CHAPTER VII 



THE PLUM (Common Garden Plum: Prunus domes- 

 tica: Amygdalacem) 



THE Prunus or plum, considered as an individual fruit, 

 has again under its division various kinds of plums, 

 all of which are supposed to have originated from the Sloe 

 or Blackthorn, or Prunus spinosa, from which the Bullace 

 (Prunus insititia) is considered the next step, a second or 

 middle stage. Concerning this, as with the peach, there 

 is still a little ambiguity, since the three are in many ways 

 as different as in other points the resemblance is marked. 

 The red, cherry-plum, or Myrobalan, is thought to be next 

 of kin, onward, from the Bullace. The plum has been 

 found wild nearly all over Asia and from Asia its 

 introduction into Russia and other parts of Europe 

 was evidently very early. The damson plums are said to 

 take their name from Damascus where they were first 

 known. 



The Beach Plum (Prunus maritima), and the wild red 

 and yellow plum (Prunus Americana), with the Chickasaw 

 (P. Chicasa) — all of them wild American species — furnish 

 variety of form and colour rivalled only by the domestic, 



. cultivated species all over the world. Their rich smooth- 

 ness often tempts the palate before the fruit is properly 



■ ripened, which sometimes leads to the belief that it is the 

 plum which is at fault. The traditional "sugar plum" 

 and the fetching rhyme of Jack Homer point to an ancient 

 delight in the fruit which gradually attached itself as a 



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