Chav. X. PLUMS. 3G7 



Godrou remarks "^ that the cultivated varieties may be divided into 

 two main groups, wiiich he supposes to be descended from two 

 aboriginal stocks; namely, those with oblong fruit and stones 

 pointed at both ends, having narrow separate petals and upright 

 branches; and those M'ith rounded fruit, with stones blunt at both 

 onds, with rounded ]it'tals and spreading branches. From what 

 we know of the variability of the flowers in the peach and of the 

 diversified manner of growth in our various fruit-trees, it is difficult 

 to lay much weight on these latter characters. With respect to 

 the shape of the fruit, we have conclusive evidence that it is 

 extremely variable : Downing '* gives outlines of the plums of two 

 seedlings, namely, the red and imperial gages, raised from the 

 greengage ; and the fruit of both is more elongated than that of the 

 greengage. The latter has a very blunt broad stone, whereas the 

 stone of the imperial gage is " oval and pointed at both ends.'' 

 These trees also dilVcr in their manner of growth : " the greengage 

 is a very short-jointed, slow-growing tree, of spreading and rather 

 dwarfish habit ; " whilst its offspring, the imperial gage, " grows 

 freely and rises rapidly, and has long dark shoots." The famous 

 Washington plum bears a globular fruit, but its offspring, the 

 emerald drop, is nearly as much elongated as the most elongated 

 plum figured by Downing, namely, Manning's prune. I have made 

 a small collection of the stones of twenty-five kinds, and they 

 graduate in shape from the bluntest into the sharpest kinds. As 

 characters derived from seeds are generally of high systematic 

 importance, I have thought it worth while to give drawings of the 

 most distinct kinds in my small collection ; and they may be seen 

 to differ in a surprising manner in size, outline, thickness, promi- 

 nence of the ridges, and state of surface. It deserves notice that 

 the shape of the stone is not always strictly correlated with that of 

 the fruit : tliu.s the Washington plum is spherical and depressed at 

 the pole, with a somewhat elongated stone, whilst the fruit of 

 the Goliath is more elongated, but the stone less so, than in the 

 Washington. Again, Denyer's Victoria and Goliath bear fruit 

 closely resembling each other, but their stones are widely different. 

 On the other hand, the Harvest and Black Margate plums are very 

 dissimilar, yet include closely similar stones. 



The varieties of the plum are numerous, and differ greatly in 

 size, shape, quality, and colour, — being bright yellow, green, almost 

 white, blue, purple, or red. There are some curious varieties, such 

 as the double or Siamese, and the Stoneless plum : in the latter the 



" 'Del'Espfece,'tom.ii. p. 94. On 278, 284, 310, 314. Mr. Rivers 



the parentage of our plums, see also raised ('Gard. Chron.,' 1863, p. 27) 



Alph. De Candolle, ' Geograph. Bot.,' from the Prune-peche, which bears 



p. 878. Also Targioni-Tozzetti, 'Jour- large, round, red plums on stout, 



nal Hort. Soc.,' vol. ix. p. 164. Also robust shoots, a seedling which bears 



Babington, 'Manual of Brit. Botany,' oval, sinaller fruit on shoots that are 



1851, p. 87. so slender as to be almost pendulous, 



'* ' Fruits of America,' pp. 270, 



