Honey Drop 8, 10, 14. Honey Drop 5, 11. Missouri Apricot 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13.
From the fruit-grower’s standpoint, Golden Beauty is of little interest. The plums are so small and the quality so poor that the variety is not worth planting either for the home or for money-making. It is true that the firm, juicy fruits are very good for table use, in jellies in particular, and that they may be shipped long distances, but these characters cannot offset the handicap of small size and poor quality. The variety is of interest to botanists because it seems to be a wanderer out of the range of the species to which it belongs. As the history which follows seems to show, Golden Beauty was found in a part of Texas where Prunus hortulana does not grow (see the discussion of this species) and quite as remarkable if it really comes from so warm a part of Texas is the fact that it should be perfectly hardy here and even farther north. There is a mystery yet to be cleared up about this plum. The variety is very ornamental in flower, foliage and fruit.
According to current account, Golden Beauty was found wild by a German on the Colorado River in western Texas during the Civil War. After the war, the German planted his new plum in a yard in Victoria County, Texas, where it attracted the attention of Gilbert Onderdonk, Mission Valley, southern Texas. Onderdonk, noting its merits, propagated and introduced it in 1874. In 1886, Stark Brothers, of Missouri, introduced the Missouri Apricot, the Honey Drop of some, which they claimed was found wild in Missouri. Several pomologists have noted the close similarity of this variety to Golden Beauty and as tested at this Station they are identical in all respects and are therefore placed under the older name. In 1897 the American Pomological Society placed this plum on its fruit catalog list.
Tree above medium in size, vigorous, somewhat irregular in habit, usually spreading, low, dense and flat-topped, hardy, variable in productiveness, somewhat subject to attacks of shot-hole fungus; trunk rough, shaggy; branches roughish, thorny, zigzag, dark ash-gray, with numerous lenticels of medium size; branchlets long, slender, twiggy, with short internodes, green changing to greenish-brown, shining, glabrous, with numerous, conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds small, very short, obtuse, plump, appressed.
Leaves folded upward, narrowly oval, one and seven-eighths inches wide, four inches long, thin; upper surface smooth, glabrous, with a grooved midrib; lower surface light green, sparingly pubescent along the midrib and larger veins; apex acuminate, base abrupt, margin irregularly and doubly crenate, with small, dark brown glands; petiole seven-eighths inch long, slender, green, thinly pubescent along one side, glandless or with from one to eight very small, globose, blackish glands scattered mostly below the base of the leaf.
Blooming season late and of medium length; flowers appearing after the leaves, seven-eighths inch across, white; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, with from four to six flowers in each umbel; pedicels nine-sixteenths inch in length, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes acute, erect, thinly pubescent within, glandular-serrate, the glands reddish; petals ovate or roundish-oval, erose, tapering below into long, narrow, pubescent claws; anthers light yellow; filaments five-sixteenths inch in length; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit very late, season of medium length; one inch in diameter, roundish to roundish-oval, somewhat compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, slightly flaring; suture very shallow or a line; apex roundish or pointed; color orange-yellow, mottled, overspread with thin bloom; dots characteristic, numerous, large and small, yellowish, decidedly conspicuous producing a somewhat mottled appearance, clustered about the apex; stem very slender, five-eighths inch in length, glabrous, adhering poorly to the fruit; skin thick, tough, adhering to the pulp; flesh golden-yellow, juicy, coarse, fibrous, tender, mildly sweet, with a faint apricot flavor, somewhat acid when cooked; fair in quality; stone adhering, five-eighths inch by one-half inch in size, turgid, oval, abruptly pointed at the base and apex, smooth and with a coating of yellowish-brown, cottony substance; ventral suture broad, lightly furrowed; dorsal suture acute or with a shallow furrow.
GOLDEN CHERRY
Prunus cerasifera