Prunus simonii
Prunus simonii | |
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Simon plum fruit and leaves | |
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P. simonii
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Binomial name | |
Prunus simonii |
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Prunus simonii, called apricot plum and Simon plum, is a tree in the genus Prunus. It was first described by Elie-Abel Carrière in 1872 and is native to Hebei province, China.[1] The species is not known in a truly wild state.[2] It has been important for breeding commercial plum cultivars from crosses with other species of the genus Prunus.[3][4] The species is named for Gabriel Eugène Simon (1829–1896), a French botanist and diplomat who sent pits to the Paris Museum in the early 1860s while he was representing the French government in China.[5][6][7][8] Beginning about 1881, the species became commonly known in the United States; having been introduced there from France.[5]
Contents
Description
Prunus simonii is a small deciduous tree growing to about 6 meters (20 ft) in height.[2] The flowers produce almost no pollen; the fruit varies in quality, can be bitter or pleasant to eat, and is flat in shape.[2][9] Just like an apricot, the fruit flesh clings tightly to the pit. The taste is often bitter. Fruit production is not particularly bountiful. The fruit is dark red[5] or "brick red".[10] The branches are slender and the leaves oblong.[11] In appearance, the fruit is flatter than most plums, looking "tomato-like".[3] The fruit is particularly aromatic, much more so than Prunus salicina, with a comparatively high level of hexyl acetate, which gives apples their aroma.[12]
Uses
Plant breeder Luther Burbank devoted a lot of work to hybridizing this species with the Japanese plum (Prunus salicina) and developed a number of cultivars from the hybrid.[13] Of these, the cultivar 'Climax' was particularly notable for its importance to the fruit shipping industry of California.[9] Other influential plum cultivars that Burbank developed with P. simonii ancestry include 'Maynard', 'Chalco', 'Santa Rosa', and 'Formosa'.[14] Those two species and the European species Prunus cerasifera have contributed the majority of the genetic constitution of modern Japanese-type plum cultivars, with lesser contributions from three native American species P. americana, P. angustifolia, and P. munsoniana.[15]
References
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- ↑ Gledhill, D. (2008). The Names of Plants. Cambridge University Press, p. 353.
- ↑ Bretschneider, E. (1898). History of European Botanical Discoveries in China. London: Sampson Low, vol. 2, pp. 827-833.
- ↑ Baltet, Charles (1895). L'horticulture dans les cinq parties du monde. Paris: Société nationale d'horticulture, p. 406.
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External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Prunus_simonii. |
Wikispecies has information related to: Prunus_simonii |
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