Chinese Cling was found growing in the orchards south of the city of Shanghai, China, by Robert Fortune, the indefatigable English botanist, who was sent to China by the London Horticultural Society to collect useful and ornamental plants. Fortune sent the peach to England in 1844 under the name Shanghai, a name which it retains, with variable spellings, in Europe. Chinese Cling was imported as potted plants to America in 1850 by Charles Downing through a Mr. Winchester, British consul at Shanghai, China. Downing forwarded one of the trees to Henry Lyons, Laurel Park, Columbia, South Carolina, with whom the variety first fruited in America. Lyons called the new fruit "Chinese Peach." In 1871 the American Pomological Society placed Chinese Cling on its recommended list of varieties, a place it still holds.
CHINESE CLING
Tree rather weak in growth, upright-spreading, round-topped, not very hardy, medium in productiveness; trunk thick; branches stocky, reddish-brown mingled with light ash-gray; branchlets with short internodes, olive-green more or less overlaid with dark red, smooth, glabrous, with numerous large and very small, inconspicuous lenticels.
Leaves seven and one-half inches long, two inches wide, folded upward, broad oval-lanceolate, thick, leathery; upper surface dark green, smooth, becoming slightly rugose along the midrib; lower surface light grayish-green; margin coarsely crenate to finely serrate, tipped with dark red glands; petiole one-half inch long, with two to five reniform, greenish-yellow, dark-tipped glands variable in position.
Flower-buds large, long, obtuse, plump, very pubescent, somewhat appressed; blossoms appear in mid-season; flowers pink, one and one-half inches across, well distributed; pedicels short, glabrous, green; calyx-tube reddish-green; calyx-lobes medium to broad, obtuse, glabrous within, heavily pubescent near the outer edges; petals ovate, irregularly notched near the base, tapering to short, white claws; filaments one-fourth inch long, shorter than the petals; pistil pubescent at the base, longer than the stamens.
Fruit matures late; two and five-eighths inches long, two and nine-sixteenths inches wide, round-oval, compressed; cavity deep, contracted, narrow, abrupt, faintly tinged with red; suture deep, extending beyond the apex; apex roundish or flattened, with a mucronate tip; color greenish-white changing to creamy-white, blushed on one side with lively red, splashed and marbled with duller red; pubescence thick; skin tough, adhering to the pulp; flesh white, tinged with red near the pit, juicy, meaty, tender, sweet but sprightly, aromatic; good in quality; stone clinging, one and three-eighths inches long, one inch wide, oval, conspicuously winged, bulged on one side, with pitted surfaces; ventral suture deeply furrowed along the sides, rather narrow; dorsal suture large, deep, wide, winged.
CHINESE FREE
1. Ala. Sta. Bul. 11:7, 11. 1890. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 44. 1891. 3. Ga. Sta. Bul. 42:234. 1898. 4. Del. Sta. Rpt. 13:95. 1901. 5.Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1909. 6. Waugh Am. Peach Orch. 200. 1913.
Perhaps it is enough to say that Chinese Free is Chinese Cling with a free stone—at least it has been so heralded. On our grounds, however, leaves, flowers and fruits are all smaller and the quality of the fruit is not nearly as good while the tree runs a little better in most characters. This, perhaps, is a good example of many of the seedlings of Chinese Cling—the influence of another parent and the stimulus of hybridization are apparent. Chinese Free is surpassed by many other white-fleshed peaches of its season for both home and market. Doubt has arisen as to whether the tree on the Station grounds is the true Chinese Free, yet we think it is the variety now commonly going under this name.
This variety grew from a seed of Chinese Cling in the orchard of W. P. Robinson, Atlanta, Georgia, nearly forty years ago. Mr. Robinson first exhibited it before the Georgia Horticultural Society in 1881 as an unnamed seedling. Thereafter it was sometimes known locally as Robinson but commercially it has always been called Chinese Free. In 1891 the Georgia Horticultural Society formally adopted the latter name. The American Pomological Society listed Chinese Free on its fruit-list in 1891 but dropped it in 1897. In 1909, however, another change in heart caused the Society's officials again to list it in the catalog where it still remains.
Tree above medium in size, vigorous, spreading, the lower branches slightly drooping, open-topped, neither very hardy nor very productive; trunk thick; branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown tinged with light ash-gray; branchlets slender, inclined to rebranch, long, dark red intermingled with olive-green, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with numerous large, conspicuous lenticels raised toward the base.
Leaves five and three-fourths inches long, one and five-eighths inches wide, folded upward, oval-lanceolate, medium in thickness and toughness; upper surface dark green, rugose along the midrib; lower surface dull grayish-green; margin finely serrate, tipped with dark red glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, with two to six rather large, reniform, greenish-yellow, dark-tipped glands variable in position.
Flower-buds usually obtuse, plump, very pubescent, somewhat appressed; blooming season early; flowers pale pink, darker along the edges, one and one-fourth inches across, often in twos; pedicels short, glabrous, green; calyx-tube dull, dark reddish-green, light yellow within, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes acute, glabrous within, pubescent without; petals oval or ovate, tapering to small, narrow claws tinged with red at the base; filaments one-half inch long, usually shorter than the petals; pistil pubescent at the ovary, often longer than the stamens.
Fruit matures in mid-season; two and one-half inches long, two and three-fourths inches wide, roundish-oval, bulged at one side, compressed, with unequal halves; cavity narrow, abrupt, tinged with red, with tender skin; suture shallow but deepening at the apex; apex roundish or pointed, with a mucronate tip; color greenish-white changing to creamy-white, blushed with red, mottled and striped with darker red; pubescence very short, thin; skin thin, tough, separates from the pulp; flesh greenish-white or whitish, stained with red at the pit, juicy, tender, melting, subacid, sprightly; fair to possibly good in quality; stone free, one and one-fourth inches long, fifteen-sixteenths inch wide, oval, plump, abruptly pointed, with purplish-brown, pitted surfaces; ventral suture deeply furrowed along the sides, winged near the base, rather wide; dorsal suture deeply grooved, wing-like.