Leaves flattened or folded upward, obovate, one and seven-eighths inches wide, four and one-half inches long, thick, leathery; upper surface dark green, with deeply grooved midrib, sparingly hairy; lower surface silvery-green, pubescent; apex acute, base cuneate, margin shallowly but broadly crenate, with few small dark glands; petiole one and one-eighth inches long, thick, pubescent, tinged with light red, glandless or with one or two small, globose, yellowish glands on the stalk or base of the leaf.
Blooming season late and long; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-eighth inches across, the buds cream-tipped changing to white on expanding; borne on lateral buds and spurs, usually singly; pedicels about seven-sixteenths inch long, thick, pubescent, green; calyx-tube greenish, campanulate, glabrous except towards the base; calyx-lobes above medium in width, obtuse, slightly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, erect; petals broadly ovate, crenate, with short, broad claws; anthers yellowish; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit late, season of medium length; one and seven-eighths inches by one and three-quarters inches in size, roundish-oval, slightly compressed, halves nearly equal; cavity shallow, flaring; suture shallow, rather wide, prominent; apex roundish or depressed; color light purplish-red over a greenish-yellow ground, overspread with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous; stem one-half inch long, thickly pubescent, adhering strongly to the fruit, with fleshy ring about the base; skin of average thickness and toughness, sour, separating from the pulp; flesh pale yellow, juicy, coarse, firm, sweet at the skin, but tart at the center, pleasant, aromatic; good; stone clinging, one and three-sixteenths inches by three-quarters inch in size, oval, turgid, blunt at the apex, with rough and pitted surfaces; ventral suture winged, with few but prominent ridges; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
BERCKMANS
Prunus triflora
1. Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 53, 99. 1889. 2. Cornell Sta. Bul. 62:20. 1894. 3. Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 95. 1895. 4. Cornell Sta. Bul. 106:43, 44. 1896. 5. Rural N. Y. 56:614. 1897. 6. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 26. 1897. 7. Cornell Sta. Bul. 175:138, 143. 1899. 8. Rural N. Y. 62:582. 1903. 9. Ga. Sta. Bul. 68:9, 28. 1905.
Botan of some 2, 4. Botan White 6. Sweet Botan 1. Sweet Botan 2, 3, 4. True Sweet Botan 2, 4, 9. White-fleshed Botan 1. White-fleshed Botan 2, 4, 8, 9.
This variety was introduced by Luther Burbank in 1887 from imported stock. P. J. Berckmans[206] of Augusta, Georgia, who had secured some Botan trees from Burbank, noted that this plum differed from the rest and, in order to distinguish it, named it Sweet Botan. The nomenclature of Botan was confused and indefinite and Bailey, in 1894, renamed the new plum Berckmans. As it is very similar to Abundance, still more confusion has arisen in regard to it. Compared with Abundance, Berckmans is more spreading in growth; fruit less pointed, with dryer and more insipid flesh; color brighter red and the stone usually freer; but it is neither as productive nor as free from rot. In 1897 the American Pomological Society placed the variety on its fruit list. As Berckmans is inferior to Abundance and ripens at the same season, it is not worth recommending for general planting. It is to be regretted that so distinguished a horticulturist as Mr. Berckmans is not to have his name perpetuated in a better plum than the one named in his honor.
BERGER
Prunus triflora