Prunus munsoniana
1. Ind. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 134. 1883. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 151. 1891. 3. Cornell Sta. Bul. 38:64, 86. 1892. 4. Me. Sta. An. Rpt. 12:67. 1896. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 89. 1897. 6. Wis. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 137. 1899. 7. Wis. Sta. Bul. 87:15. 1901. 8. Waugh Plum Cult. 199. 1901. 9. Kan. Sta. Bul. 101:131. 1901. 10. Ga. Sta. Bul. 67:280. 1904. 11. Ohio Sta. Bul. 162:256, 257. 1905.
Robinson has long been one of the best known of its species though it is probably inferior in fruit-characters at least to several other Munsoniana sorts. The plums are attractive in coloring but small in size and comparatively low in quality. The trees are capricious in growth and not as hardy as some others of the species but where they can be grown are always productive. The variety is rated by some authors among those that need cross-pollination to insure large crops. Robinson may be worth growing in the South and in the States of the Plains but it cannot be recommended for any purpose in New York.
This variety is a seedling grown by a Mr. Pickett of Putnam County, Indiana, from a seed brought with him from North Carolina about 1835. In 1879, Dr. J. H. Robinson read a paper before the Indiana Horticultural Society on Chicasaw plums, and gave a very flattering description of this plum, which he had been growing since 1872. Later it was named by the Putnam County Horticultural Society in honor of Dr. Robinson. This name was used as a synonym of Miner by Downing in 1869 but at the present time that usage has almost disappeared in plum literature.
Tree variable in size, often large, vigorous, spreading, not uniform in habit, somewhat open and flat-topped, hardy, medium to productive; trunk shaggy; branches very rough, zigzag, thorny, dark ash-gray, with numerous, large, narrow and strongly elongated, raised lenticels; branchlets slender to medium, with internodes medium to below in length, greenish-red changing to dull, dark chestnut-red, glabrous, with numerous very conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, free.
Leaves folded upward, lanceolate, peach-like, one and five-sixteenths inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thin; upper surface dark green, glabrous, with deeply grooved midrib; lower surface glabrous except along the midrib and larger veins; apex taper-pointed, base obtuse, margin very finely serrate, with small, dark red glands; petiole slender, five-eighths inch long, reddish, lightly pubescent along one side, glandless or with from one to seven small, globose, reddish-brown glands on the stalk and on the base of the leaf.
Blooming season medium to late, long; flowers appearing with the leaves, eleven-sixteenths inch across, whitish, somewhat self-fertile; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, in twos, threes or fours; pedicels seven-sixteenths inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, narrow-campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, slightly obtuse, glandular, pubescent and with marginal hairs, erect; petals ovate or oval, small, narrow, slightly crenate, tapering below to long, narrow claws; anthers yellowish; filaments one-quarter inch long; pistil glabrous, slightly shorter than or equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit early, season very long; less than an inch in diameter, roundish or roundish-oval, halves equal; cavity of medium depth and width, abrupt; suture a line; apex roundish; color clear currant-red, overspread with thick bloom; dots scattering, large, russet, conspicuous, clustered around the apex; stem slender, five-eighths inch long, glabrous, adhering to the fruit; skin tough, bitter, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, very juicy, somewhat fibrous, tender and melting, sweet next the skin, with some astringency near the center, of mild but pleasant flavor; fair in quality; stone clinging, five-eighths inch by three-eighths inch in size, oval, turgid, very slightly flattened and necked at the base, abrupt-pointed at the apex, roughish; ventral suture blunt, slightly ridged; dorsal suture with a rather broad groove of medium depth.
ROLLINGSTONE
Prunus americana