212 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



the myrobalan plum is native to Europe or Asia; and 

 it is full time that an American origin be no longer 

 ascribed to it. 



The myrobalan plum has long been used in this 

 country as a stock for various plums. Except upon 

 the Pacific coast, it appears to be falling into dis- 

 repute, however, as it dwarfs the cion, and is not 

 suited to all varieties. The endeavor to find some 

 stock which can take the place of the myrobalan 

 has resulted in the popularizing of the Marianna, 

 which, if not pure myrobalan, certainly partakes 

 very largely of it. The myrobalan stock is widely 

 distributed in this country, and bearing trees of it 

 are occasionally seen. The Golden Cherry plum of 

 Downing is undoubtedly this species, and the fruit 

 now known as Youngken's Golden Cherry is cer- 

 tainly myrobalan, and it is probably identical with 

 the variety described by Downing. Tin 1 fruits may 

 be either yellow or red in various shades. They are 

 round and cherry-like, with a depression at the base, 

 on slender steins, ranging in size from that of a large 

 cherry to an inch and a -half in diameter. The myro- 

 balan is very variable, a fact which finds record and 

 confirmation in the various characters of the stones, 

 as shown in the illustration on page !!><». 



The first variety of this Marianna or myrobalan 

 type to l>e introduced as a native plum was the De 

 Caradeuc. This is an early garnet-red plum. It 

 originated with A. De Caradeuc, upon his former 

 farm near Aiken, South Carolina, aboul the years 

 1850 to 1854. Mr. De Caradeuc imported some 

 Trench plums, from the seed of which this variety 

 came. There were several Chickasaw plums in the 





