Leaves falling early, oval or obovate, two inches wide, three and three-quarters inches long; upper surface dark green changing to golden-yellow late in the season, smooth and shining, with a narrow, grooved midrib; lower surface silvery-green, lightly pubescent; apex taper-pointed, base abrupt, margin coarsely serrate, the serrations ending in sharp points, eglandular; petiole five-eighths inch long, thick, tinged red, thinly pubescent, glandless or with one or two prominent, greenish-brown glands.

Blooming season late and of medium length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-eighth inches across, white; borne in clusters on lateral spurs and buds, in pairs or in threes; pedicels five-eighths inch long, slender, glabrous, green, tinged with red; calyx-tube red, campanulate, enlarged at the base, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, somewhat obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces and on the margin, reflexed; petals ovate, somewhat crenate or fringed, tapering below to long, narrow claws, sparingly hairy along the edge of the base; anthers yellow; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.

Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season; one and three-sixteenths inches in diameter, roundish, usually truncate and slightly oblique, compressed, halves equal; cavity very shallow, flaring; suture a line; apex roundish or flattened; color dull light or dark red over a yellow ground, mottled, with thick bloom; dots numerous, very small, light russet, inconspicuous; stem slender, five-eighths inch long, glabrous; skin tough, astringent, adhering; flesh dark golden-yellow, juicy, fibrous, soft and melting, sweet; fair to good; stone semi-free, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, irregularly roundish or ovate, flattened, blunt at the base and apex, with smooth surfaces; ventral suture strongly winged; dorsal suture acute, with a narrow and shallow groove.

ORLEANS

Prunus domestica

1. Quintinye Com. Gard. 68. 1699. 2. Langley Pomona 91, Pl. XX fig. 4. 1729. 3. Miller Gard. Dict. 3:1754. 4. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 2:78, Pl. VII. 1768. 5. Knoop Fructologie 2:52, 55, 56, 57. 1771. 6. Forsyth Treat. Fr. Trees 19. 1803. 7. Kraft Pom. Aust. 2:32, Tab. 179 fig. 1. 1796. 8. Brookshaw Pom. Brit. Pl. XI. 1817. 9. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 145, 150. 1831. 10. Prince Pom. Man. 2:62, 67, 85. 1832. 11. Poiteau Pom. Franc. 1:1846. 12. Floy-Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 289, 290, 383. 1846. 13. Thomas Am. Fruit Cult. 339. 1849. 14. Elliott Fr. Book 428. 1854. 15. Thompson Gard. Ass’t 519. 1859. 16. Downing Fr Trees Am. 935. 1869. 17. Mas Pom. Gen. 2:37, fig. 19. 1873. 18. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1875. 19. Oberdieck Deut. Obst. Sort. 414. 1881. 20. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 435. 1882. 21. Hogg Fruit Man. 715. 1884. 22. Guide Prat. 156, 360. 1895.

Anglaise Noire 16, 17, 20, 21, 22. Angloise Noire 5. Brignole? 1. Brugnole? 1. Brignole Violette 17, 20, 22. Brignole Violette? 5. Common Orleans 10, 16, 17, 20. Damas Rouge 10. Damas Rouge 5, 9. Damas Violet? 5. De Monsieur 17, 22. Die Herrnpflaume 7. English Orleans 10, 16, 17, 20. French Orleans 8. Hernnpflaume 17. Herrnpflaume 19. Herrnpflaume 22. Herzog von Orleans 20, 22. Italian Damask of some 14. Large Red Orleans 10. Late Monsieur 10, 16, 17, 20. Monsieur 4, 9, 10, 12, 17, 22. Monsieur 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21. Monsieur Ordinaire 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22. Old Orleans 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22. Orleans 17, 20, 22. Orleans Red Damask 20. Prune de Monsieur 10, 16, 20. Prune de Monsieur 11. Prune d’Orleans 16, 17, 20, 21. Prunelle? 5. Prune Monsieur 7. Red Damask 10. Red Damask 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22. Red Orleans 10, 16, 17, 20. Red Orleans Plum 6.

In Europe Orleans is one of the most renowned of the plums cultivated. A proof of its popularity is the great number of names, as shown in the synonymy given above, under which it passes in England and on the continent. This variety, however, is almost unknown in America though described by all of the older American pomologists and probably introduced time and again during the last hundred years in our orchards. The French fruit books say that the variety thrives better in southern than northern France and nearly all of the European writers state that it does best in high, dry, light, warm soils. It is likely that our climate, and the soils in which plums are generally grown in America, are not suited to this sort. Unfortunately this Station has no trees of this variety and the brief description given is a compilation.

The Orleans has been cultivated for more than two hundred years. Langley said of it in 1729 “The Orleans Plumb tho a common, is yet a very valuable Plumb, as well for its fine firm juicy Pulp when well ripened, as its being a constant and plentiful bearer.” The Red Damask and the Brugnole mentioned by Quintinye in 1699 are probably the Orleans; but the Prune de Monsieur of Knoop and the Monsieur of Tournefort, which are yellow, are distinct. The variety is evidently of French origin. Mas in his Pomologie Generale, 1873, states that it first bore the name Brignole Violette, but later was given the name it now bears in honor of Monsieur, Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV. Damas Rouge is an old synonym, though Duhamel described it as a distinct variety. Herrnpflaume is the common name of the Orleans in Germany and Austria, while in France, it is often called the Monsieur. It has never been common in America, yet it was entered on the American Pomological Society catalog list in 1875.