“Tree vigorous, with branches spreading-straggling, relatively short, branched at the extremity. Leaves numerous, slightly roughened by the prominence of the numerous nerves on the lower surface, short, oblong, usually rounded at the apex, attenuated at the base, where are found a few very small glands; petiole about two centimeters long, yellowish, lengthening out into a prominent midrib; buds short, oval, pointed, deep reddish-brown; dark green above, pale green below, bordered regularly with very close, short, slightly inclined teeth.
Fruits very abundant, pedunculate, spherical or oblong, peduncle a little bent, rather strong, nearly three centimeters long, inserted in a very small cavity, regularly rounded. Skin strongly attached to the flesh, even, glossy, purplish-black, more or less glaucous; flesh free from the seed, pulpy, very juicy, soft, greenish, sweet, leaving a taste a little strong, but not disagreeable; seed short oval, elliptical, flattened, ten millimeters in width, nearly fifteen to sixteen millimeters in length, with grayish-red surface roughened by small, regular projections. Matures from July to September.”
SAINT MARTIN
Prunus domestica
1. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 144, 153. 1831. 2. Prince Pom. Man. 2:74. 1832. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 295 fig. 119. 1845. 4. Poiteau Pom. Franc. 1. 1846. 5. Mag. Hort. 14:151 fig. 15. 1848. 6. Thomas Am. Fruit Cult. 336 fig. 260, 337. 1849. 7. Elliott Fr. Book. 423. 1854. 8. Thompson Gard. Ass’t 515. 1859. 9. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 40. 1867. 10. Guide Prat. 162, 365. 1895.
Catherine violette 8, 10. Coe’s Fine Late Red 8. Coe’s Fine Late Red 1, 5, 7, 10. Coe’s Late Red 3, 6, 9. Coe’s Late Red 5, 6, 7, 10. Coë’s sehr späte rothe Pflaume 10. De la Saint-Martin 10. Oktoberpflaume 10. Prune de la St. Martin 3. Prunier de Saint Martin 2, 5, 7. Red St. Martin 2, 7. Red Saint Martin 5, 6, 7. Rouge tardive de Coë 10. Saint Martin Rouge 5. Saint-Martin Rouge 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10. Saint Martin 2, 3, 5. St. Martin 2, 6, 7, 8. St. Martin Rouge 8. Violette d’Octobre 10. Violette Octoverpflaume 8. Violette Oktoberpflaume 10.
Saint Martin is an old French variety now hardly worth growing, brought into England by a Mr. Coe who called it Coe’s Fine Late Red, a name continued by the London Horticultural Society in its catalog. In the United States, too, it became quite generally known as Coe’s Late Red in spite of the efforts of Prince, Downing and Elliott to have it pass under its true name. The variety was mentioned in the American Pomological Society’s catalogs from 1867 to 1897. It is described as follows:
Fruit very late; of medium size, roundish, bright purplish-red with thin blue bloom; suture distinct; cavity shallow; stem of moderate length and thickness; flesh yellow, with a vinous flavor; fair to good; freestone.