1898 EARLY VIEWS OF PRUNUS DOMESTICA 423 
it is not too much to expect that we may understand the char- 
acters of the group and presently find a modern representative 
of it. Seringe’s characterization of the group was as follows : 
‘Fructibus rotundatis flavis vel viridi-flavescentibus, nucleo 
obtusiusculo.”’ 
The figures usually represent a small plum, somewhat ellip- 
soid, and with an evident suture. 
PRUNUS DOMESTICA CEREOLA.—The Reine Claudes, or Green 
Gages. This is one of the most distinct and important of all 
the groups mentioned, and one of the oldest. It seems to have 
been clearly understood as a separate group by all the early 
botanists, and is specially recognized in many of the herbals. 
It is particularly mentioned by almost every writer in Europe 
and America from the time of Bauhin to the present. A great 
deal of speculation has been spent on the problem of its geo- 
graphic and genetic origin, but no finally defensible conclusion 
has been reached. Its birthplace may have been southern 
Europe or eastern Asia. Koch 7,who is one of our best authori- 
ties on these questions, advances the rather unlikely hypothesis 
that it originated from a crossing of the Zwetsche and the Dam- 
son, 7. ¢., Prunus domestica galatensis X P. domestica damascena. 
Our first definite knowledge of the variety, however, comes from 
Italy, where it was cultivated under the name of Verdochia. It 
was brought to France about 1500, the story being that it was 
introduced by Queen Claudia, wife of Francis I. Thus it took 
the name of Reine Claude. It came early to England, both from 
Italy and from France. The plums from Italy were grown in 
England under the name of Verdoch, and under that name are 
mentioned by Parkinson in 1629.8 It was probably later than 
this that they were brought from France, at which time the labels 
were lost, and the variety was renamed Green Gage, a name 
Which has followed it to America, and which is now the one best 
known both here and in Britain. American nurserymen have 
7 Deutsche Obstgeholze 1 50. 1876. " 
* This and divers other points in the history of the Reine Claude group are taken 
from Hogg, Fruit Manual 552. London. 1875. [4th ed.] 
