Blooming season short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-eighth inches across, whitish; borne in clusters at the ends of spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels thirteen-sixteenths inch long, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent towards the base; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals roundish, entire, with very short, blunt claws; anthers yellow; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season; medium to above in size, somewhat ovate, halves equal; cavity below medium in depth and width, abrupt, rarely sutured; apex bluntly pointed; color dark purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem medium in thickness and length, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, tender, slightly astringent, separating readily; flesh greenish-yellow changing to light golden-yellow, dry, firm but tender, sweet, mild, somewhat astringent towards the center; fair in quality; stone variable in adhesion but usually clinging, large, ovate or oval, blunt at the base and apex, strongly roughened and pitted; ventral suture faintly winged; dorsal suture acute or lightly grooved.
GUTHRIE LATE
Prunus domestica
1. McIntosh Bk. Gard. 2:532. 1855. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 919. 1869. 3. Hogg Fruit Man. 705. 1884. 4. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 434. 1889. 5. Rivers Cat. 1898. 6. Am. Gard. Mag. 21:173. 1900.
Guthrie’s Minette 1. Guthrie’s Late Green 6. Guthrie Green 6. Guthrie’s Late Green 2, 3, 4. Minette 2, 3, 4. Verte Tardive de Guthrie 4.
Guthrie Late has never attained commercial importance in the United States, being found only in collections; but in England, according to Hogg, it is a very fine dessert plum, rivalling the Reine Claude in quality and ripening a month later. On the grounds of this institution it has failed because the fruits are small, dull in color and do not keep well. Of the several varieties produced from seed of Reine Claude by Charles Guthrie, Taybank, Dundee, Scotland, about the middle of the last century, Guthrie Late is the best known.
Tree large, vigorous, round-topped, dense, productive; branches stocky; branchlets pubescent; leaf-buds large, short, with a peculiar brush-like apex; leaves folded upward, oval, one and seven-eighths inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thick, rugose; margin crenate, eglandular or with small, dark glands; petiole thick, glandless or with from one to four globose glands; blooming season short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch across, white tinged with yellow at the apex of the petals; borne on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period long; of medium size, roundish-truncate, dull greenish-yellow, often irregularly splashed and striped with green, overspread with thin bloom; skin thin, slightly astringent; flesh light golden-yellow, rather dry, fibrous, somewhat tender, sweet, pleasant in flavor; of good quality; stone free, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, ovate or oval, medium turgid, with rough surfaces.