Descriptions of Select Varieties of Plums. 491 



12. Semiana. Kenrick's American Orchardist, 1832. 



Blue Imperatrice, of some. 



The Semiana plum {fg. 45) is a very well known and 

 extensively cultivated variety, around Boston, where it has 

 been introduced into many collections under the name of 

 Blue Imperatrice, with which 

 variety it has been confounded 

 for a long time. It has also 

 been made synonymous with 

 the Prune Suisse, by Kenrick 

 and other authors, though Du- 

 hamel, in his description, ex- 

 pressly states, that its -'diame- 

 ter is greater than its length;" 

 wliile in all cases the Semiana 

 is a quarter of an inch longer 

 than its diameter. The Prune 

 Suisse we have never seen in 

 fruit, but the Fellenberg, re- 

 cently disseminated as a new 



plum, is now said to be iden- 2^5-. 46. Semiana Plum. 



tical with it. If this is true, it is quite distinct from the Sem- 

 iana, as a single glance at the wood and foliage will show. 



That it is not the Blue Imperatrice is well ascertained ; we 

 saw the latter variety in bearing in London, in 1844, and 

 ate the fruit; and we have already stated, (Vol. XI, p. 406,) 

 that it was a very distinct fruit, being a higher flavored and 

 sweeter plum, though not so large as the Semiana. 



We have been induced to believe the Semiana to be a na- 

 tive fruit: its origin we have, so far, been unable to trace 

 further than that the first trees were disseminated from 

 Salem, where, we believe, the original tree, from which 

 all others have sprung, was growing not long since ; but 

 whether native or foreign, it is certain that up to the present 

 time, no imported variety has proved identical with it. 



The merits of the Semiana we think have been overlooked. 

 It is one of the latest plums, fully as late as Coe's Golden 

 Drop, and has the merit of keeping for a long time after gath- 



