Leaves falling early, ovate, two inches wide, four inches long, thin; upper surface light green, rugose, glabrous, with a narrow groove on the midrib; lower surface silvery-green, pubescent; apex taper-pointed, base abrupt, margin coarsely serrate, with long, taper-pointed teeth, eglandular; petiole five-eighths inch long, slender, tinged red, lightly pubescent, glandless or with one or two small, globose, greenish-red glands on the stalk.
Blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, eleven-sixteenths inch across, white; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, in threes or fours; pedicels three-eighths inch long, slender, glabrous, green; calyx-tube greenish, narrowly campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, lightly pubescent, occasionally tipped with red, serrate, with many marginal hairs, reflexed; petals oval, notched, tapering at the base to narrow claws of medium length; anthers light yellow; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens, often defective.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period short; one and one-quarter inches in diameter, oblate, compressed, oblique, halves equal; cavity of average depth and width, flaring; suture a line; apex flattened or depressed; color dark red over a yellow ground, mottled, with thin bloom; dots numerous, minute, light russet, inconspicuous; stem one-half inch long, glabrous, detaches from the fruit when ripe; skin thick, tough, sour, adhering; flesh orange-yellow, juicy, coarse, fibrous, tender and melting, sweet, lacking in flavor; fair in quality; stone free, three-quarters inch by five-eighths inch in size, roundish, flattened, slightly oblique, blunt and flattened at the base, roundish at the apex, smooth; ventral suture acute, not ridged; dorsal suture acute, sometimes indistinctly grooved.
WORLD BEATER
WORLD BEATER
Prunus hortulana
1. Cornell Sta. Bul. 38:52. 1892. 2. Wis. Sta. Bul. 63:65. 1897. 3. W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 41:54. 1896. 4. Waugh Plum Cult. 182. 1901.
World Beater is very similar to Wayland, differing chiefly in being a week earlier and, as the color-plate shows, the plums are a little smaller and more oval. In tree-characters, as the two grow at this Station, World Beater is perhaps the better plum. This variety has the same place in pomology as Wayland, a place which it fills possibly a little better. It may be recommended for culinary purposes and as a late plum for regions where the peach is hardy. Plums of this species have small value in New York except for the sake of variety.