1. Quintinye Com. Gard. 67, 68, 69. 1699. 2. Langley Pomona 93, Pl. XXIII fig. 7. 1729. 3. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 2:89, Pl. XI. 1768. 4. Knoop Fructologie 2:62. 1771. 5. Kraft Pom. Aust. 28, Tab. 173 fig. 2, 41, Tab. 193 fig. 2. 1796. 6. Forsyth Treat. Fr. Trees 20. 1803. 7. Miller Gard. Dict. 3. 1807. 8. Coxe Cult. Fr. Trees 237, fig. 14. 1817. 9. Phillips Com. Orch. 306. 1831. 10. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 147, 148. 1831. 11. Prince Pom. Man. 2:48. 1832. 12. Gallesio Pom. Ital., Pl. 1839. 13. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 276 fig. 106. 1845. 14. Floy-Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 283, 382, 419. 1846. 15. Poiteau Pom. Franc. 1:1846. 16. Horticulturist 2:178, 179, fig. 30, 291. 1847. 17. Thomas Am. Fruit Cult. 326 fig. 253, 329. 1849. 18. Hovey Fr. Am. 2:69, Pl. 1851. 19. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 54. 1852. 20. Elliott Fr. Book 410. 1854. 21. Thompson Gard. Ass’t 517. 1859. 22. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 917. 1869. 23. Mas Le Verger 6:55, fig. 28. 1866-73. 24. Pom. France 7: No. 5. 1871. 25. Oberdieck Deut. Obst. Sort. 434. 1881. 26. Lauche Deut. Pom. 20, Pl. IV 20. 1882. 27. Hogg Fruit Man. 703. 1884. 28. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 433. 1889. 29. Guide Prat. 154, 363. 1895. 30. Bailey Sur. Unlike 176, 243. 1896. 31. Cornell Sta. Bul. 131:186. 1897. 32. Botanical Gazette 26:423. 1898. 33. Gard. Chron. 3rd Ser. 24:465. 1898. 34. Waugh Plum Cult. 22, 106, 107 fig. 1901.
Abricot Verd 5, 9. Abricot Vert 3, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29. Abricotée Sageret ?22, 28. Aloise’s Green Gage 22, 24, 27, ?28, 29. Blanche Grosse Espece 10. Bonne Verte 5. Bradford Gage 13, 20, 21, 22, 28, 29. Bradford Green Gage 27, 28. Bradford Queen Gage 24, ?29. Brugnon Green Gage 10, 18, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. Brugnon Gage 20, 22, 28, 29. Bruyn Gage 13, 17, 18 incor., 20, 22, 28, 29. Burgnon Gage 13, 24. Cant’s Late Green Gage 22, 28. Claudia 12. Damas Gris 24, 28, 29. Damas Verd 9. Damas Vert 7, 10, 13, 18, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. Dauphine 5, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29. Die grosse Königin Claudiapflaume, die grüne Abrikose 5. Die Königin Klaudia 5. Dauphine 3. Dauphiny 6. Drap d’Or of some 10, 18, 28, 29. Echte Grosse Reine-Claude 28, 29. Gage Verte 28, 29. Great Green Damask 22, 27, 28. Great Green Damaski 24, 29. Great Queen Claudia 11. Green Gage 2, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 30, 31, 33, 34. Green Spanish 14, 18. Gros Damas Vert 11, 22, 28, 29. Grosse Königin Claudiapflaume 5. Green Gage 7, 9, 23, 24, 28, 29, 32, 34. Goring’s Golden Gage 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. Grosse Reine 10, 13, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. Grosse Grüne Reine-Claude 25, 28. Grosse Reine-Claude 7, 25, 26, 28. Grosse Reine-Claude 3, 5, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29. Gros Reine-Claude 14. Grüne Aprikose 5, 28, 29. Grüne Abrikose 5. Grüne Reineclaude 25. Gute Grüne 28, 29. Huling’s Reine-Claudia 22, 28. Huling’s Reine Claude 11. Ida Gage 22. Ida Green Gage 16. Ida Green Gage 20, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. Isleworth Green Gage 13, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. Isleworth Green Gage 10. King of Plums 20. Königin Claudia 28, 29. Königin Klaudia 5. Large Queen Claude 11. La Grosse Reine-Claude 11. Large Queen Claudia 6. Large green claudia 11. Livingston Manor 22, 28. Louis Brun ?22, ?28. Mammola 12. Mirabelle Vert Double 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. Murray’s Reine Claudia 22, 28. Murray’s Reine Claude 11, 14, 22, 27. Prune de Reine Claude 15. Prunus Domestica Cereola 32. Prunus Domestica var. cereola 33. Prunus Domestica var. Claudiana 32. Queen Claude 2. Queen Claudia 11, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. Reine-Claude Ancienne 23, 24, 28, 27. Reine-Claude Blanche Grosse Espece 10. Reineclaude d’oree 29. Reine-Claude Blanche La Grosse 11, 22. Reine-Claude 8, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 33. Reine Claud 1. Reine-Claudia 2. Reine-Claude Blanche 10. Reine-Claude Dorée 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29. Reine-Claude Dore 18, 22. Reine-Claude Grosse 27, 28. Reine-Claude Verde Perdrigon 5. Reine-Claude Verte 23, 29. Rensselaer Gage 20, 22. Rensselvar Gage 24, 29. Rensselaar Gage 27, 28. Reine-Claude Verte Tiquetée 28, 29. Reine-Claudia Blanche La Grosso 22, 28. Royal Green Gage 28, 29. Schuyler Gage 20, incor. 22, 24, 27. Schuyler’s Gage ?13, 20, 28, 29. Sucrin Vert 10, 11, 13, 18, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. Sultaneck Erik ?28, 29. Susina Regina 12. Triomphe Garcon 24, 28, 29. Triomphe Valet 24, 28, 29. Trompe Garcon 22, 27, 28, 29. Tromp-Valet 7. Trompe Valet 22, 27, 28, 29. Verdacia 27, 28. Verdacchia rotonda 12. Verdoch 27, 32, 34. Verdochia 32. Verdochio 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. Verducia 22. Verte Bonne 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29. Vert Bonne 13, 22, 27. Verte d’Espagne 23, 28, 29. Verte Tiquetée 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. Vilmot’s Green Gage 29. Vilmot’s Late Green Gage 29. Wilmot’s Green Gage 10, 11, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28. Wilmot’s Late Green Gage 11, 18, 20, 21, 22. Wilmot’s Late Green Gage 10, 13, 18, 20, 21, 22, 28, 29. Wilmot’s New Green Gage 10, 11, 13, 18, 20, 22, 28, 29. Waterloo 20.
In the pomological literature since Quintinye in 1699, Reine Claude has been the standard in quality for plums. For the qualities that gratify or assist in gratifying the sense of taste,—richness of flavor, consistency and texture of flesh, abundance of juice and pleasant aroma,—the Reine Claude is unsurpassed. It is, however, now probably equalled in quality by several of the great number of similar varieties which have originated in America and for which American plum-growing is justly distinguished. Under ordinary cultivation the Reine Claude is not a remarkably handsome plum but when grown on thrifty trees, the crop thinned, foliage and fruit kept free from pests and the fruits sufficiently exposed to the sun to color well, it is a beautiful fruit, its size, form and color all adding to its beauty. The tree is only of moderate size in the orchard and in the nursery is so small and wayward that nurserymen hesitate to grow it. The trees, though small, are productive and bear regularly, the chief defect being the susceptibility to sunscald whereby the bark on the trunk is killed and the beginning of the end is marked. The short life of the trees of this variety is largely due to this injury to the bark and has led to top-working on Lombard and other stocks, an operation successful only when done early in the life of the stock. Another serious fault is that the fruit cracks badly if showers occur at ripening time. Reine Claude is still one of the most profitable plums grown in New York and whether for the commercial or home plantation deserves a place in the plum orchard.
For a complete history of this variety the reader is referred to the discussion of the Reine Claude group of plums. The Bavay, a distinct variety, is called the true Reine Claude by many nurserymen and horticultural writers. Green Gage is a synonym of the Reine Claude and is preferred by some writers for this plum but since “Reine Claude” is as well known and much older it has been retained in The Plums of New York. The American Pomological Society placed this variety on its fruit catalog list in 1852.
Tree of medium size and vigor, round-topped, hardy, productive; trunk and branches of medium thickness and smoothness; branches ash-brown, with few lenticels; branchlets short, with short internodes, reddish-brown, lightly pubescent; leaf-buds large, long, conical or pointed, free; leaf-scars prominent.
Leaves four and one-half inches long, two inches wide, oval, thick, leathery; upper surface dark green, smooth, covered with fine, scattering hairs; lower surface pale green, pubescent; apex acute, margin often doubly crenate, glandular; petiole three-quarters inch long, tinged red, glandless or with one or two small, globose, greenish glands variable in position.
Fruit mid-season; one and three-quarters inches by one and five-eighths inches in size, roundish-oval, halves equal; cavity narrow, regular, abrupt; suture shallow, broad; apex pubescent, roundish or slightly depressed; color yellowish green, indistinctly streaked with green, becoming golden-yellow at full maturity, sometimes mottled on the sunny side with red, overspread with thin bloom; dots very numerous, small, grayish, conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem thick, three-quarters inch long, pubescent; skin tough, adhering to the pulp; flesh greenish-yellow or golden-yellow, juicy, firm, sweet, mild; very good; stone semi-clinging, one inch by three-quarters inch in size, oval, turgid, tapering at the base, blunt at the apex, with thickly pitted surfaces; ventral suture wide, distinctly furrowed, often with a short wing; dorsal suture with a very wide and deep groove.
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