Prunus hortulana mineri
1. Mich. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 290. 1889. 2. Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 55, 85. 1890. 3. Cornell Sta. Bul. 38:40. 1892. 4. Mich. Sta. Bul. 118:53. 1895. 5. Ibid. 123:20. 1895. 6. Ia. Sta. Bul. 31:346. 1895. 7. Wis. Sta. Bul. 63:46. 1897. 8. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 298. 1903. 9. Ga. Sta. Bul. 67:277. 1904. 10. Ohio Sta. Bul. 162:256, 257. 1905.
Maquoketa is distinguished as one of the best of the native plums for culinary purposes. Nearly all of the plums brought in from the wild in America have so much astringency, most of it coming from the skins, that they are impalatable to some. Now and then a variety is nearly free from this disagreeable taste and Maquoketa is one of these. The quality, as a dessert fruit, is very good for a native and the fruits keep and ship well. In the South the plums are subject to both curculio and brown-rot. The trees, like those of nearly all of the Miner-like plums, are rather better formed and more adaptable to orchard conditions than those of other species. After the Americana and Nigra plums, Maquoketa is one of the hardiest of our native varieties, growing even in Minnesota. The variety belongs in the South and Middle West and there are few, if any, places in New York where it is worth growing.
The origin of this plum is uncertain. It is reported in the references given as a native found on the banks of the Maquoketa River in eastern Iowa and also as a Miner seedling grown under cultivation. It has been known to fruit-growers since about 1889.
Tree of medium size and vigor, spreading, low-topped, open, hardy, variable in productiveness, susceptible to attacks of shot-hole fungus, the trunk shaggy; branches slender, rough, zigzag, with few thorns, dark, dull ash-gray, with numerous lenticels; branchlets slender, long, with internodes of medium length, green, changing to dull reddish-brown, glabrous, with numerous, conspicuous, small, slightly raised lenticels; leaf-buds very small, short, obtuse, appressed.
Leaves falling early, folded upward, broadly lanceolate, peach-like, one and three-quarters inches wide, four and one-half inches long; upper surface light green, changing to a dull red late in the fall, glossy, glabrous, with a narrowly grooved midrib and veins; lower surface silvery-green, thinly pubescent; apex taper-pointed, base rather abrupt; margin with serrations in two series, with very small, black glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, tinged with dull red, hairy, with from one to four globose, rather large, dark brownish-yellow glands.
Blooming season late and of medium length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch across, yellowish as the buds begin to open, changing to white, with a disagreeable odor; borne in clusters on lateral spurs and buds, varying from two to four flowers in a cluster; pedicels five-eighths inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, narrowly campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, slightly obtuse, nearly glabrous on the outer surface, but pubescent within, serrate, with dark colored glands and marginal hairs, reflexed; petals oval or ovate, with long, tapering claws of medium width, sparingly hairy at the base; anthers yellowish; filaments seven-sixteenths inch in length; pistil glabrous, slender, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit late, ripening period short; below medium in size, ovate or roundish-ovate, halves equal; cavity shallow, rather wide, rounded, flaring; suture a distinct line; apex roundish or slightly pointed; colors some time before fully ripe becoming dark carmine, covered with thin bloom; dots numerous, small to medium, light brown, clustered about the apex; stem rather slender, glabrous, parting readily; skin thick, tough, astringent, semi-adherent, removing a thin layer of pulp when detached; flesh deep yellow, juicy, coarse, fibrous, nearly melting next to the skin, becoming firmer toward the center, sweet at first but astringent near the pit, with a strong flavor; inferior in quality; stone adhering, of medium size, oval, turgid, bluntly pointed at the base and apex, with slightly roughened surfaces; ventral suture acute, ridged; dorsal suture a narrow, shallow groove.
MARIANNA
