THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 265 



LATE ORLEANS 



Prunus domestica 



i. Land. Hort. Soc. Cat. 151. 1831. 2. Mag. Hort. 164. 1843. 3- Jour. Hori. N. S. 15: 301. 

 1868. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 927. 1869. 5. Guide Prat. 161, 360. 1895. 6. Garden 49:268. 

 1896. 7. Rivers Cat. 33. 1898. 



Black Orleans i, 2, 5. Late Black Orleans 3, 4. Late Black Orleans 5. Late Orleans 5. Mon- 

 sieur Noir Tardif 5. Orleans Late Black 5. 



This is another variety having only a European reputation to recom- 

 mend it in America. The fruits of Late Orleans are handsome in color 

 and shape, but are not large enough to enable them to compete in the 

 markets with other late purple plums and are so poor in quality as to be 

 worthless as dessert fruits. In Europe the variety is rated high for culinary 

 purposes and fruit-growers there like it because it hangs well to the tree 

 and keeps and ships well. The trees are very satisfactory in practically 

 all respects. It is doubtful if the variety is worth further trial in America. 



Late Orleans was mentioned in the catalog of the Horticultural Society 

 of London in 1831, but was not described. No account seems to have 

 ever been published of its origin, but it is probably related to or descended 

 from the Orleans since they are very similar in tree and shape of fruit, 

 differing only in size and color of fruit. 



Tree large, vigorous, round-topped, hardy, very productive; branches smooth, 

 dark ash-gray, with numerous, small lenticels; branchlets medium to slender, with long 

 internodes, greenish-red changing to dull reddish-brown, dull, pubescent, marked with 

 gray scarf-skin and with small lenticels; leaf -buds intermediate in size and length, 

 conical, appressed. 



Leaves flattened, oval or obovate, one and one-quarter inches wide, two and one- 

 quarter inches long; upper surface sparingly pubescent, with a deeply grooved midrib; 

 lower surface heavily pubescent along the midrib; apex abruptly pointed, base broadly 

 cuneate, margin finely crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole one-half inch long, 

 slender, pubescent, faintly tinged with red, glandless or with from one to four small, 

 globose, yellowish glands usually on the stalk. 



Flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch across, white; borne on lateral buds 

 and spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels one-half inch long, glabrous, greenish; calyx- 

 tube, green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes obtuse, pubescent, glandular-serrate and 

 with marginal hairs, erect; petals roundish or broadly ovate, entire, short-clawed; 

 anthers yellow with a reddish tinge ; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, 

 equal to the stamens in length. 



Fruit late, season long; about one and one-half inches in diameter, roundish, slightly 

 compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, flaring; suture aline; apex roundish ; 

 color dark purple, overspread with thick bloom; dots few, reddish-brown; stem three- 



