NICHOLAS
Prunus domestica
1. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 61. 1887. 2. Kan. Sta. Bul. 101:121, 124 fig. 1901. 3. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 327. 1903.
Arab No. 2 Bielaya Nicholskaya 1. White Nicolas 1. White Nicholas 2, 3.
Although a fairly good early dessert plum it is doubtful if Nicholas has any commercial value as it is inferior in most characters of fruit and tree to standard varieties; in particular it drops badly as it begins to ripen. “White,” as formerly and usually now put in the name, is a misnomer, as the fruit is red; how it came to be applied to this fruit does not appear. Nicholas was imported from Dr. Regel of St. Petersburg, Russia, by Professor J. L. Budd of the Iowa Experiment Station in the winter of 1881-82 and in 1888 was sent out for testing under the name Arab No. 2.
Tree of medium size, round-topped, productive; trunk rough; branches smooth except for the raised lenticels and longitudinal cracks in the bark; branchlets slender; leaves falling early, folded upward, obovate or oval, one and five-eighths inches wide, three and three-eighths inches long, rugose; margin serrate, with few, small, dark glands; petiole pubescent, tinged red, sometimes with several small glands; blooming season intermediate in time, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch or more across, white, tinged with yellow near the apex of the petals; borne on lateral buds and spurs, in scattering clusters, singly or in pairs.
Fruit early, one and three-eighths inches by one inch in size, long-oval, dark red, covered with thick bloom; stem adhering poorly to the fruit; flesh light yellow, juicy, fibrous, tender, sweet, mild; good; stone free, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, flattened, oval, somewhat obliquely acute at the base, with granular surfaces; ventral suture prominent, rather narrow, blunt; dorsal suture with a narrow, shallow groove.
OCCIDENT
Prunus triflora