In common parlance Englebert is a prune, its origin, shape, color and firm golden-yellow flesh all marking it as such, but in prune-making regions it is usually marketed in the green state, if grown at all, and is little used in curing. It cannot be said to be much more popular as a plum than it is as a prune, chiefly because it is not of high quality, but also because it is none too attractive in color, size or shape, cutting a rather poor figure in comparison with a great number of other Domestica plums. The variety fails in tree as well as in fruit. The trees are variable in size, suffer from cold in exposed situations and while rather productive bear their crops in clusters hard to pick and well placed to insure infection from brown-rot when that disease is epidemic. For some reason the fruit of this variety shrivels at this Station not only after being picked, but while still on the tree. In New York, Englebert has been thoroughly tested, has been found wanting and is not now recommended.
This variety was obtained from a seed of the “Date Prune,” by M. Scheidweiler, Professor of Botany at Ghent, Belgium.[211] The date of origin has not been given, but it was probably produced about the middle of the last century since it was described as a new fruit in the Horticulturist for 1855. Englebert was added to the American Pomological Society catalog fruit list in 1871 under the name Prince Englebert, but in 1897, according to the rules of the Society, the name was simplified to Englebert.
Tree variable in size, vasiform, dense-topped, hardy except in exposed locations, productive; branches ash-gray, smooth except for the numerous, long-oval, raised lenticels; branchlets thick, rather short, with internodes above medium in length, green changing to dark brownish-drab, dull, heavily pubescent throughout the season, with few, inconspicuous, small lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, appressed.
Leaves folded upward, oval or obovate, one and seven-eighths inches wide, three and one-quarter inches long; upper surface covered with very fine hairs, with a shallow groove on the midrib; lower surface pale green, finely pubescent; apex roundish-pointed, base obtuse, margin finely crenate, eglandular or with small dark glands; petiole three-quarters inch long, pubescent, faintly tinged red, glandless or with one or two small, globose, greenish-yellow glands at the base of the leaf.
Blooming season early to medium, of average length; flowers appearing after the leaves, about one inch across, white except for a yellowish tinge near the apex of the petals; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, usually in pairs; pedicels one-half inch long, below medium in thickness, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes obtuse, sparingly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate and with marginal hairs; petals broadly oval or roundish, crenate, abruptly tipped with short, broad claws; stamens often inclined to revert to petals; anthers yellowish; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period short; one and five-eighths inches by one and three-eighths inches in size; oval, swollen on the suture side, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture a line; apex bluntly pointed or roundish; color dark purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, russet; stem three-quarters inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, sourish, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, juicy, coarse, rather firm, sweet, pleasant-flavored, sprightly; good; stone one and one-eighth inches by five-eighths inch in size, oval or broadly ovate, strongly flattened, with roughened and deeply pitted surfaces, blunt at the base and apex; ventral suture narrow, strongly grooved, not prominent; dorsal suture acute, with a shallow, often indistinct groove.
ENGRE
Prunus triflora
1. Normand Cat. 1891. 2. Kerr Cat. 1894-1900. 3. Cornell Sta. Bul. 175:131. 1899. 4. Tex. Sta. Bul. 32:488. 1899.
This variety is one of the earliest of the Triflora plums and although the flavor is not as agreeable as that of the best sorts of its species, as Burbank or Abundance, it is much better than that of Earliest of All, with which it competes in season. Almost nothing is known regarding the history and origin of Engre. It was first mentioned in 1890 in the catalog of J. L. Normand, Marksville, Louisiana, and in all probability is one of his numerous importations from Japan. The origin of the name is not known.