BURBANK
Prunus triflora
1. Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 53, 99. 1889. 2. U. S. D. A. Rpt. 392. 1891. 3. Wickson Cal. Fruits 360. 1891. 4. Cornell Sta. Bul. 106:46, 63. 1896. 5. Ala. Col. Sta. Bul. 85:445. 1897. 6. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 26. 1897. 7. Am. Gard. 19:75, 132, 220, 792. 1898. 8. Mich. Sta. Bul. 169:242, 249. 1899. 9. Cornell Sta. Bul. 175:143. 1899. 10. Waugh Plum Cult. 134. 1901. 11. W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 88. 1902. 12. Can. Hort. 25:272. 1902. 13. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 308. 1903. 14. Ga. Sta. Bul. 68:11, 28. 1905. 15. Ohio Sta. Bul. 162:256. 1905. 16. DeVries Plant Breeding 170. 1907.
Persing Nos. 1 & 2, 15. Russian plum 20M. 4. Wassu 4. Wassu 9.
Probably Abundance holds first place among the Triflora plums in New York but Burbank is a close second and in many localities has first preference. Abundance is in the lead chiefly because the trees of this variety are larger and better formed and bear more fruit than those of Burbank. To offset the advantages of Abundance the fruit of Burbank is of better quality, more handsomely colored, keeps and ships better and is less susceptible to brown-rot. The fruit of Burbank ripens a week or more later than that of Abundance, which in most seasons is a slight advantage for the first-named variety. The trees of this plum are distinguished from those of all other plums by their low, spreading habit, flat top and somewhat drooping branches, characters which make them more or less difficult to handle in the orchard and very difficult to manage in the nursery. The wood of Burbank is brittle, true of all Trifloras, but a serious defect in this one. In common with other varieties of its species, Burbank is less troubled with curculio and black-knot than the European plums. The fruit of this variety begins to color some days before ripe and should be picked before fully matured if it is to be kept or shipped. Usually the best specimens of Burbank come from thinned trees and thinning is a necessary operation in all commercial orchards. The variety does not thrive in the South, being poor in quality and rotting badly. In New York, Burbank is not being planted nearly so largely as a few years ago, the Domesticas being much more profitable than this or other Triflora plums. It is a very desirable variety for home plantations in New York.
Burbank was produced from a plum pit sent to Luther Burbank[207] by a Japanese agent in 1883.[208] The fruit of this variety proved to be very superior and Mr. Burbank sent specimens of it to the Division of Pomology, United States Department of Agriculture in 1887, where it was named in honor of the introducer. Wassu, introduced by J. L. Normand, and the Russian plum, 20 M, sent out by Professor J. L. Budd proved to be indistinguishable from the Burbank as tested by Bailey, but Kerr[209] thinks the Wassu is a distinct variety. The American Pomological Society added Burbank to the fruit list in its catalog in 1897.
Tree large, vigorous, distinguished by its low, sprawling habit and flat open top, unusually hardy for a Japanese variety, very productive, healthy; branches somewhat roughish, dark ash-gray, thickly covered with fruit-spurs, with few, large, raised lenticels; branchlets medium in thickness and length, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to dark brown, with gray scarf-skin, glossy, glabrous, with raised lenticels of medium size and number; leaf-buds short, obtuse, free.
Leaves folded upward, broadly oblanceolate, peach-like, one and one-eighth inches wide, three and three-quarters inches long, thin; upper surface light green, smooth, pubescent only on the deeply grooved midrib; lower surface glabrous, pubescent on the midrib; apex taper-pointed, base cuneate, margin finely and doubly serrate, with small amber or reddish glands; petiole nine-sixteenths inch long, sparingly hairy on one side, tinged red, with from one to four small, reniform or globose glands mostly on the stalk.
Blooming season early and short; flowers appearing with the leaves, white; borne in dense clusters on the lateral buds and spurs, in threes; pedicels one-quarter inch long, thick, glabrous; calyx-tube green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, glandular-serrate, glabrous, erect; petals broadly oval, entire, short-clawed; anthers yellowish; filaments one-quarter inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens.