14 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 413 



Late Fall Late Fall 



Variety Foliage Coloration Variety Foliage Coloration 



Abundance red Pipestone red 



Beauty green Red Coat some red, variable 



Burbank red Red June red 



Elephant Heart .... slightly red Santa Rosa very green 



Elliot red Shiro green 



Ember red Superior slightly red 



Formosa red Underwood greenish 



Methley medium red Wickson \er\- green 



Monitor red Wright's Early. . . red 



The serrations or teeth along the leaf margins are worth noting (Figure 11). 

 Serrations may be coarse, as in American Mirabelle, medium as in Italian Prune, 

 or fine as in Abundance. They ma\- also be deep as in Stanley, medium in depth 

 as in German Prune, shallow as in Abundance, or very shallow and indistinct 

 as in Burbank. In a number of varieties, many of the individual serratures are 

 double or divided in two. In a few sorts, as Italian Prune, there may be con- 

 siderable tripling. Plu.m serrations are not often as sharply serrate (sharp- 

 pointed) as they are in President. They are more likely to be dull serrate as in 

 the varieties in the top part of Figure 11, or crenate (rounded) as in the varieties 

 illustrated just below. There is also some variation in the regularity of serra- 

 tions which ma}' be of occasional value. 



The leaf pose or the general position taken by the shoot leaves is characteristic 

 of the variety. It is determined largely by the angle of the petiole with the 

 shoot, and the amount of reflexion of both the petiole and the leaf midrib. The 

 amount and tjpe of folding of the blade also pla\s a part. The leaf pose of a 

 nursery tree is undoubtedlj' one of the most significant characters used in variety 

 identification in the field because it gives at a glance a composite picture of several 

 plant characteristics as just mentioned. It is because of the unusual importance 

 in identification work of the general appearance of whole shoots of plums that 

 photographs of typical shoots of all the varieties described in this bulletin are 

 included in the ne.xt section. 



Illustrations and Comments on the Prominent Characteristics 

 of Plum Varieties 



The following pages show illustrations of the upper portions — approximately 

 2 feet — of one->ear shoot growths of plum trees as the\- grow in the nursery. 

 Most of the shoots are from one-year whips although some were taken from strong- 

 growing two-year trees. The shoots photographed were as t\pical of the variety 

 as could be obtained. 



In connection with the illustrations, some of the prominent characteristics of 

 each variety are listed. These characteristics have been found to be particularly 

 valuable in variety identification in the field although some of them are more 

 outstanding than others in particular varieties. However, all of them are useful, 

 especially in conjunction with the accompanying photographs. In man}^ cases, 

 of course, the more complete descriptions in the back part of this bulletin will be 

 found useful and perhaps necessary for positive identification of some varieties. 

 And under certain circumstances one or more of the characteristics not listed 

 here as prominent may be even more valuable than some of those that are listed. 



