This variety is so highly prized in France that it is here recommended for trial even though the trees as they grow in this part of New York have not been productive. It is too small for a dessert plum but might become of value here if used as in France for tarts, spices, preserves and drying. The plum originated about 1827 in the nursery of Andre Leroy, Béjonnieres, Angers, France.
Tree medium in size and vigor, upright-spreading, unproductive; leaf-scars swollen; leaves oval, medium in width and length; margin with small dark glands, finely serrate; petiole with none or from one to six glands, usually on the stalk; flowers appearing after the leaves, tinged creamy-white as they open; borne on lateral buds and spurs, in pairs or in threes.
Fruit late, season of medium length; one and three-eighths inches by one and one-quarter inches in size, obovate, a little necked, yellow, blotched with red on the exposed cheek, covered with thin bloom; stem long; apex strongly depressed; flesh pale yellow, firm but tender, sweet, aromatic; very good; stone semi-clinging, three-quarters inch by one-half inch in size, oval.
BELGIAN PURPLE
Prunus domestica
1. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 373. 1857, 2. Hogg Fruit Man. 351. 1866. 3. Pom. France 7: No. 27. 1871. 4. Mas Le Verger 6:105. 1866-73. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1877. 6. Cat. Cong. Pom. France 340. 1887. 7. Guide Prat. 153, 352. 1895.
Bleue de Perk 4. Bleue de Bergues 3, 7. Bleue de Belgique 1, 7. Bleu de Perque 1. Blaue von Belgien 4, 7. Bleu de Bergues 6. Bleu de Peck 6. Belgian Purple 4, 6, 7. Bleue de Belgique 7. Belgische Damascene 7. Bleue de Perck 7. Bleu de Belgique 6. Fertheringham 3 incor. Prune Bleue de Belgique 3.
Belgian Purple is a medium grade plum of little value for dessert but rather highly esteemed for culinary purposes, especially in Europe. It probably has but a small place in American pomology. Concerning the origin of the variety, nothing is known although it is generally believed to have originated in Belgium prior to 1850.
Tree large, vigorous, round and dense-topped, not always hardy, very productive; branchlets numerous, thick, pubescent throughout the season; leaf-scars prominent; leaves flattened or folded upward, oval, one and five-eighths inches wide, three and one-half inches long; margin serrate or crenate; petiole five-eighths inch long, glandless or with from one to two small glands usually at the base of the leaf; flowers nearly one inch across, white, with a peculiar greenish and creamy tinge near the apex of the petals and often splashed with pink towards the base; borne on lateral buds and spurs; calyx-tube thickly pubescent.
Fruit mid-season; medium to below in size, roundish-oval, purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; flesh rich, golden-yellow, medium juicy, firm, sweet, mild; fair to good; stone nearly free, of medium size, oval, flattened, often with a distinct wing.