Tree variable in size and vigor, upright-spreading, open-topped, hardy for a Triflora, not uniform in productiveness, healthy; branches rough, dark, dull ash-gray, with numerous, small lenticels; branchlets slender, long, with internodes of average length, greenish-red changing to dull reddish-brown, often with a green tinge on the winter shoots, glabrous; lenticels numerous, small; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, free.
Leaves falling early, sparse, folded upward, oval or obovate, one and three-eighths inches wide, three and one-quarter inches long, thin and leathery; upper surface slightly rugose, with a broad groove on the lightly pubescent midrib; lower surface very thinly pubescent; apex and base acute, margin glandular, doubly serrate or crenate; petiole one-half inch long, hairy along the upper side, green, with from one to three small, globose, yellowish glands variable in position.
Blooming season early to medium, of average length; flowers appearing before the leaves, thirteen-sixteenths inch across, white; borne in dense clusters on lateral spurs and buds, in pairs; pedicels one-half inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes obtuse, glandular-serrate, with numerous hairs along the edge, pubescent, somewhat erect; petals broadly ovate, entire, tapering to short, blunt claws; anthers yellow; filaments three-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens.
Fruit mid-season or later, ripening period long; one and seven-eighths inches in diameter, roundish-cordate or slightly oblate, halves unequal; cavity deep, wide, flaring, with streaks radiating from the cavity; suture shallow or a line; apex roundish to slightly pointed; color dark red over a yellowish-green ground, with bloom of medium thickness; dots numerous, large, russet, conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem somewhat slender, five-eighths inch long, glabrous, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, tough, sour, separating readily; flesh light yellow frequently tinged with red, very juicy, slightly fibrous, variable in firmness, sweet, mild, lacking the strong characteristic Triflora flavor; good; stone clinging, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, roundish-oval, blunt but with a small tip, somewhat rough, ridged along the ventral, grooved on the dorsal suture.
OGON
Prunus triflora
1. Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 29. 1886. 2. Ibid. 35, 58. 1888. 3. Ibid. 53, 99. 1889. 4. Col., O., Hort. Soc. Rpt. 81. 1892. 5. Cornell Sta. Bul. 62:27, 28 fig. 1894. 6. Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 95. 1895. 7. Cornell Sta. Bul. 106:59. 1896. 8. Ibid. 131:194. 1897. 9. Ibid. 139:45. 1897. 10. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 26. 1897. 11. Rural N. Y. 57:562. 1898. 12. Colo. Sta. Bul. 50:43. 1898. 13. Mich. Sta. Bul. 169:242, 249. 1899. 14. Cornell Sta. Bul. 175:138 fig. 1899. 15. Ohio Sta. Bul. 113:157. 1899. 16. Waugh Plum Cult. 139. 1901. 17. Ga. Sta. Bul. 68:6 32. 1905. 18. Miss. Sta. Bul. 93:15. 1905.
Ogan 5. Ogden 1. Ogon 5. Shiro Smomo 6. Yellow Nagate 2.
Ogon, the Japanese for gold, is the name for one of the comparatively few varieties of Prunus triflora having a yellow color. This variety is further distinguished by being the only freestone sort of its species under cultivation in America. Ogon also has a flavor quite distinct, resembling somewhat that of the apricot, which is agreeable to some and not so to others; as the variety grows on the grounds of this Station it cannot be considered of high quality even for an early plum. The fruits crack rather badly on the tree and seem to be unusually susceptible to the attacks of curculio. In some of the references given, it is reported as making a poor tree and as having a weak constitution, and practically all agree that the variety is unproductive. These faults preclude its use in commercial plantations. The variety is distinct and interesting not only in its fruits but in its flowers which bear comparatively few stamens, many of which are abortive and show all degrees between perfect stamens and perfect petals.
Ogon was imported from Japan by H. H. Berger and Company, San Francisco, California. It was first mentioned as the Ogden in the Georgia Horticultural Society Report for 1886 and in the 1888 report of the same Society it was described as a new fruit. In 1897, the American Pomological Society added Ogon to its fruit catalog list.