Tree of medium size and vigor, upright-spreading, dense-topped, hardy, unproductive; branches ash-gray, nearly smooth, with numerous, small, inconspicuous lenticels; branchlets thick, above medium in length, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to dark brownish-red, dull, with thick pubescence throughout the season, with few, small lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, stubby, obtuse, strongly appressed.
Leaves flattened, obovate, one and five-eighths inches wide, two and three-eighths inches long, thick; upper surface dark green, rugose, with few hairs along the narrow, grooved midrib; lower surface silvery green, pubescent; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base acute, margin doubly serrate, eglandular; petiole one-half inch long, green, pubescent, glandless or with one or two small, globose, greenish-yellow glands variable in position.
Blooming season medium to late, of average length; flowers appearing after the leaves, three-quarters inch across, white, scattered on lateral spurs; usually borne singly; pedicels one-quarter inch long, thick, densely covered with short hairs, green; calyx-tube reddish-green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes acute, lightly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals obovate, entire, with short, broad claws; anthers yellow with red tinge; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, nearly equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit late, ripening season of medium length; about one inch in diameter, roundish, compressed, truncate at the base; cavity rather deep and wide, abrupt; suture a line; apex flattened or depressed; color deep amber-yellow, sometimes with faint pink blush on the exposed cheek, overspread with moderately thick bloom; dots numerous, white, inconspicuous; stem one-half inch long, covered with scant pubescence, adhering strongly to the fruit; skin thin, astringent, slightly adhering; flesh deep golden-yellow, juicy, coarse, fibrous, firm, sour; poor in quality; stone clinging, five-eighths inch by one-half inch in size, ovate, turgid, blunt at the base, acute at the apex, slightly roughened; ventral suture broad, blunt, shallowly furrowed; dorsal suture with a wide, shallow groove.
WHITE DAMSON
Prunus insititia
1. Parkinson Par. Ter. 578. 1629. 2. Quintinye Com. Gard. 67, 69. 1699. 3. M’Mahon Am. Gard. Cal. 588. 1806. 4. Coxe Cult. Fr. Trees 238, fig. 15. 1817. 5. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 146. 1831. 6. Prince Pom. Man. 2:88. 1832. 7. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 287. 1845. 8. Floy-Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 300. 1846. 9. Thomas Am. Fruit Cult. 334. 1849. 10. Elliott Fr. Book 430. 1854. 11. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 190, 214. 1856. 12. Hogg Fruit Man. 385. 1866. 13. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 952. 1869. 14. Waugh Plum Cult. 131. 1901.
Frost Plum 6, 13. Late Cluster 6, 13. Late White Damson 6. Late Yellow Damson 7, 9, 10, 13. Shailer’s White Damson 7, 10, 12, 13. Shailer’s White Damson 5. Small Round Damson 5. White Damascene 4. White Damascene 6, 7, 10, 13. White Damask 2. White Damson 6. White Prune Damson 7, 8, 10, 13. White Winter Damson 6, 13. White Winter Damson 3. Winter Damson 6. Yellow Damson 9.
This old plum, known since the beginning of the Seventeenth Century, is chiefly of historic interest. Downing thought this a very desirable addition to our list of plums but nearly all other pomologists who have seen the fruit of the variety think it of small importance. Unfortunately it is not in the collection at this Station and can be neither recommended nor condemned from first hand knowledge. This plum was first noted in America by M’Mahon in 1806, and fifty years later it was added to the American Pomological Society list of promising varieties. For some reason, perhaps for its color, it has never become so well known as the purple Damsons. Perhaps from the division of Prunus insititia made in The Plums of New York, this variety should be known as a Mirabelle rather than as a Damson. The following description is a compilation: