"Roger Tonkin" wrote

Nick says...

In article ,
Roger Tonkin wrote:
Whist out today, we remembered that we had found a few plum trees
growing wild a couple of years ago. Visted them and picked about 4lbs to
make jam. They are quite small, damson size, but not the shape of a
damson and the flesh is quite yellow. Skins vary from red through to
blueish. The trees are a mess, the lower branches being stripped bare by
the cattle and dead wood every where. They are situated around the ruins
of what I think is an old farm cottage which to my knowledge has not
been inhabited (or even had any walls standing) for at least 20 years.

What I wondered was if this might be an old variety of plum that perhaps
is rare, but how do I find out?

With difficulty. Looking at Clapham, Tutin and Warburg, I would
be hard put to tell Prunus domestica from P. cerasifera. The
point is that both are very variable. It doesn't make a lot of
culinary difference. If the fruit are definitely good, it could
be a definite old variety, otherwise it might just be a tree
(grown from a stone) that was good enough to leave alone.

.

There are about 4 trees, 3 on one side of the ruin and one on the other,
so a stone is not the answer.


Sounds like what the French call Mirabelles, small round plums from which
they make a favourite jam.
Lots of trees around here and once you know what to look for the more you
see.
Usually a windfall on the road or pavement give the trees away and in our
experience the red ones make the best jam.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK