Tree very large and vigorous, spreading, somewhat drooping, flat-topped, open, hardy at Geneva, productive; trunk shaggy; branches rough, dark ash-gray, with inconspicuous lenticels, medium in number and size; branchlets slender, twiggy, long, with internodes of average length, green, changing to light chestnut-red, glossy, glabrous, with numerous, conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds very small, short, obtuse, plump, appressed.
Leaves folded upward, ovate or long-oval, peach-like, one and seven-eighths inches across, five inches long, thin; upper surface smooth and glossy, with a grooved midrib; lower surface sparingly pubescent; apex acuminate, base abrupt, margin unevenly serrate, glandular; petiole one inch long, slender, pubescent along one side, with a tinge of red, with from one to five very small, globose, brownish glands usually on the stalk.
Blooming season late and long; flowers appearing after the leaves, thirteen-sixteenths inch across, white, with disagreeable odor; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, in threes, fours or fives; pedicels fifteen-sixteenths inch long, very slender, glabrous, green; calyx-tube greenish, narrowly campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, erect, lightly pubescent within, serrate and with dark-colored glands; petals ovate or oval, irregularly crenate, tapering into long, narrow claws with hairy margins; anthers yellowish; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit very late, season long; one and one-eighth inches by one inch in size, roundish-ovate narrowing somewhat toward the stem, conical, slightly compressed, halves equal; cavity medium to deep, narrow, abrupt; suture usually very shallow and wide, often a distinct line; apex pointed; color dark currant-red, with inconspicuous, thin bloom; dots numerous, small to medium, conspicuous, densely clustered about the apex; stem very slender, five-eighths inch long, glabrous, not adhering to the fruit; skin thick, tough, clinging but slightly; flesh attractive light yellow; moderately juicy, coarse, fibrous, rather tender, mildly sweet next the skin but astringent towards the pit; fair to good; stone clinging, five-eighths inch by three-eighths inch in size, long-oval, somewhat elongated at the base and apex, turgid, with rough and pitted surfaces; ventral suture wide, blunt, faintly ridged; dorsal suture acute, with a narrow, indistinct groove.
WEAVER
Prunus americana
1. Mich. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 267. 1874. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 44. 1883. 3. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 268. 1885. 4. Minn. Sta. Bul. 5:36, 37 fig. 1889. 5. Cornell Sta. Bul. 38:45, 86. 1892. 6. Can. Hort. 16:409, Pl. 1893. 7. Mich. Sta. Bul. 123:21. 1895. 8. Wis. Sta. Bul. 63:24, 62. 1897. 9. Colo. Sta. Bul. 50:46. 1898. 10. Ia. Sta. Bul. 46:291. 1900. 11. Waugh Plum Cult. 166 fig. 1901. 12. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 302. 1903. 13. Can. Exp. Farm Bul. 43:32. 1903. 14. Ga. Sta. Bul. 67:283. 1904. 15. S. Dak. Sta. Bul. 93:41. 1905.
Weaver is an old and well-known Americana, once one of the most popular of its species because of its hardiness and productiveness. It is still listed by many nurserymen and is widely distributed throughout the country but it is now rapidly passing out of cultivation, being superseded by sorts producing larger and better colored fruits.
This variety was found growing wild on the Cedar River, in Iowa, by a Mr. Weaver. In 1873, Ennis and Patten, Charles City, Iowa, began its sale to fruit-growers. The American Pomological Society placed the Weaver on its fruit catalog list in 1883, dropped it in 1891, and replaced it in 1897. The following description is partly compiled.
Tree large, vigorous, well formed, upright-spreading, unusually hardy, productive; branches long, slender; branchlets slender, long, with short internodes, reddish-brown, glabrous, with numerous, conspicuous lenticels of medium size; leaf-buds small, conical, of average length.