This handsome, purple plum, very well shown in the color-plate, is one of the half-dozen leading fruits of its kind grown in New York, favorably known the country over and in Europe as well. Its popularity is due to its large size, well-turned shape, royal purple color, and firm, golden flesh, characters which fit it admirably for the store and the stand. But appearance is the only asset of the fruit so far as the consumer is concerned—the flesh is dry, tough, sour and clings to the stone, making a plum unfit for dessert though it does very well for culinary purposes. The fruit ripens slowly and colors a week or more before ripe; it is at its best only when fully mature. The trees excel in size, vigor and productiveness and are usually hardy and bear their crops well distributed and not clustered as in most varieties of plums. In minor characters, the trees are distinguished by large leaves, pubescence on the under side and by grayish-drab shoots covered with dense pubescence. Duane is generally found to be a very profitable market plum and if it were only better in quality we could heartily join in recommending it.
Duane originated as a seedling in the garden of James Duane, Duanesburgh, New York, about 1820. For several years, the variety was distributed by the Prince nurseries under the name Duane’s Purple French. This error was caused by Judge Duane’s accidentally sending William Prince, of Flushing, grafts of this seedling instead of a French plum[210] which he had imported in 1820. When this mistake was discovered by Downing and Tomlinson about 1846, the word French was dropped and the plum became known as Duane’s Purple and later, according to the rules of the American Pomological Society, as Duane. In 1856, it was listed by the American Pomological Society as promising well and in 1862 it was placed on the list of the fruit catalog.
Tree large, vigorous, round and dense-topped, hardy and productive; branches ash-gray, smooth except for the numerous small, raised lenticels; branchlets medium to thick, variable in length, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to dark brownish-drab, dull, thickly pubescent, with raised lenticels intermediate in number and size; leaf-buds of average size and length, conical or pointed, free.
Leaves folded backward, obovate or oval, one and one-half inches wide, three and one-half inches long; upper surface dark green, pubescent, rugose, with a narrow groove on the midrib; lower surface silvery-green, pubescent; apex acute, base cuneate, margin serrate, eglandular or with small amber glands; petiole one-half inch long, pubescent, tinged with red, eglandular or with one or two small, globose, greenish-brown glands on the stalk or base of the leaf.
Blooming season rather early, of average length; flowers appearing before the leaves, one inch across, white; developing from lateral buds, singly or in pairs; pedicels nine-sixteenths inch long, thick, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, erect; petals roundish, entire, short-clawed; anthers yellowish; filaments one-quarter inch long; pistil pubescent on the ovary, longer than the stamens.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period of average length; one and three-quarters inches by one and five-eighths inches in size, broadly oblong-oval or obovate, compressed, halves unequal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture variable in depth; apex roundish or depressed; color dark reddish-purple changing to purplish-black on the sunny side, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, light russet; stem three-quarters inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin below medium in thickness, tough, sour, separating readily; flesh pale yellow, lacking in juice, firm, sour unless fully ripe; of fair quality; stone adhering, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, oval, with pitted surfaces, blunt at the base and apex; ventral suture wide, blunt; dorsal suture with a broad, deep groove.
EARLIEST OF ALL
Prunus triflora
1. Gard. Mon. 368. 1887. 2. Cornell Sta. Bul. 62:32, 1894. 3. Normand Cat. 2. 1895-96. 4. Thomas Am. Fruit Cult. 516. 1897. 5. Cornell Sta. Bul. 175:130, fig. 24. 1899. 6. Waugh Plum Cult. 135. 1901.