1. Rev. Hort. 39. 1898. 2. Soc. Nat. Hort. France Pom. 560, fig. 1904. 3. Can. Exp. Farms Rpt. 433. 1905. 4. Cat. Cong. Pom. France 473 fig. 1906.
Reine-Claude Tardive De Chambourcy 2. Reine-Claude Tardive Latinois 1. Reine-Claude Tardive de Chambourcy 1. Reine-Claude Latinois 2, 4. Reine-Claude tardive 1. Reine-Claude Verte 4. Reine-Claude Tardive 2, 4. Reine-Claude de Chambourcy 3. Tardive de Chambourcy 4.
This fruit was found at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century at Chambourcy, France, in the garden of M. Bourgeois; no record of its parents seems to have been made. M. Latinois introduced it into commerce in 1885-1886 and consequently his name became attached to the variety. The plum is not well known in America, there being only one published American reference. This Station received the variety for testing in 1899 from the United States Department of Agriculture. It has value on account of its high quality and its lateness, and is worthy of extensive testing.
Tree small, upright-spreading, dense-topped, productive; branchlets develop fruit-spurs near the base; leaf-buds strongly appressed; leaves folded upward, long-oval or obovate, one and five-eighths inches wide, three and three-quarters inches long, somewhat leathery; margin doubly serrate or crenate, with small dark glands; blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, over one inch across; borne in thin clusters on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs.
Fruit very late, season of medium length; nearly one and one-half inches in diameter, roundish, slightly truncate, yellowish-green, with a delicate bloom and a pink blush on the exposed cheek; flesh greenish-yellow, very juicy, firm but tender, sweet, aromatic, of high flavor; very good to best; stone semi-free or free, three-quarters inch, by one-half inch in size, irregular-oval, flattened, rather blunt at the base and apex, with roughened surfaces; ventral suture strongly furrowed, often with a distinct wing.
CHAMPION
Prunus domestica
1. Wickson Cal. Fruits 360. 1891. 2. Oregon Hort. Soc. Rpt. 147. 1893. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 150. 1895. 4. Oregon Sta. Bul. 45:30. 1897.
Champion Prune, 1, 2, 3.
The Champion was introduced with the expectation that it would be a valuable fruit for curing into prunes. It has not proved to be a good plum for prune-making, as it is too juicy, about three-fourths of its bulk evaporating, but the western plum-growers have found it a very good plum for shipping in the fresh state. It is very attractive in appearance, firm, free of stone, sweet and pleasant and withal of rather high quality. The tree-characters, as the plums grow in Geneva, are in the main very good, falling short, if at all, in productiveness. They are such as to lead to the recommendation of a trial for this plum by plum-growers in general in New York.