The Cultivated Native Plums and Cherries. 71 



91. De Caradeuc. — Eatker large (one to one and a quarter in 

 diameter), globular, deep dull purple-red when ripe, wicli a ])romi- 

 nently colored suture, but yellowish, green splashed with red, when 

 it first becomes edible; Hesh thin, very juicy and sweet; cling; the 

 stone round-ovate, rather turgid, scarcely poinied ;ind evenly pitted; 

 leaves rather firm, ovate-oblong. Early. In central isew York 

 it ripens from the fii'st to the middle of August. Tree an erect 

 grower. This plum appears to agree with the myrobalan in all 

 important botanical characters, even to the broad and strongly 

 refiexed calyx lobes and stalked fiowers. About a year ago, 1 

 became convinced that JJe Oaradeuc is Prunus cerasiiera, and 

 I was glad to have my opinion confirmed by so good a nurseryman 

 as P. J. Perckmans, of Cjeorgia, who named the variety; and the 

 origin of the plum, which 1 have since leained, corroborates my 

 conclusion, it originated with A. Ue Oaradeuc upon his former 

 farm, near Aiken, fciouth Carolina, about the years 185U to 1854. 



Mr. JJe Caradeuc imported some i^'rench plums, from the seed 

 of which this variety came. There were several Chickasaw 

 plums in the vicinity of the French trees and Mr. De Caradeuc 

 thinks that the variety under consideration is a hybrid, but I 

 am unable to discover any evidence of hybridity. The original 

 tree of the variety " outgrew the parent, and reached a diameter 

 of head of fifteen feet, was entirely free from thorns and suckers, 

 and bore a remarkably rich and beautiful foliage." The variety 

 blooms very early, some days ahead of the Marianna, and the 

 fiowers, as in all vaiieties of P. cerasifera, are somewhat scat- 

 tered and less abundant than in the native species. C. 



92. Marianna (Pig. 8). — Large, round-oblong, short-stemmed, as 

 compared with the De Caradeuc, bright red and finely speckled, 

 and covered with a thin bloom; fiesh soft and sweet, juicy; semi- 

 cling; the stone like that of De Caradeuc (see Fig. 8); fiowers 

 small, sessile or short-stalked, in dense lateral clusters like the 

 native varieties, the calyx lobes narrow and erect; leaves much 

 as in De Caradeuc, but thinner. A little later than De Caradeuc, 

 but ripens before the Wild Goose. Tree a very spreading 

 grower. 0. 



