I may plan to add descriptions of stone fruits in the reference section for use by the group. Here’s what I came across and started with these types. Some are rare, wild and others are rootstocks, but if they produce good edible fruits, they can be considered stone fruits of course in their own category. In order to become a separate type or subgroup, they should be more or less have the same phenotypic expressions, genetic materials or major parentage indicated by the dominant species in their hybrid composition, as some are really complex hybrids and back crosses. Anyway, I’d like to ask for for your contributions or suggestions to this topic such as corrections to naming of the types, adding more, or reducing it. Will truly appreciate your help.
Almond (P. dulcis or amygdalus)
American Plum (P. americana)
American Chick Plum (P. americana × angustifolia or P. × orthosepala)
American Japanese Plum (P. americana x salicina)
Apricot (P. armeniaca)
Aprium (P. armeniaca x salicina x armeniaca)
Beach Plum (P. maritima)
Black Cherry (P. serotina)
Bird Cherry (P. padus)
Canada Plum or Black Plum (P. nigra)
Capulin Cherry (P. salicifolia)
Cherry Plum (P. cerasifera)
Cherry Plum Hybdrid (P. cerasifera x salicina)
Chickasaw Plum (P. angustifolia)
Chickasaw Plum Hybdrid (P. angustifolia x salicina)
Chinese Plum or Japanese Apricot (P. mume)
Choke Cherry (P. virginiana or P. canadensis)
Choke Cherry Hybdrid (P. canadensis x salicina)
Duke Cherry (P. avium x cerasus)
Dunbars Plum (P. dunbarii or P. americana x maritima)
Dwarf Sour Cherry (P. fruticosa x cerasus)
European Plum, Common (P. domestica ssp. domestica)
European Plum, Cooking (P. domestica ssp. insititia)
European Plum, Gage (P. domestica ssp. italica)
European Plum, Mirabelle (P. domestica ssp. syriaca)
Hog Plum (P. umbellata)
Italian Plum (P. cocomilia)
Japanese or Asian Plum (P. salicina)
Klamath, Oregon, or Sierra Plum (P. subcordata)
Mariana Plum (P. cariefera x monsolia)
Mexican Plum (P. mexicana)
Munson or Wild Goose Plum (P. monsonia)
Nanking (P. tomentosa)
NectaPlum (P. persica var. nucipersica x salicina.)
Here are some needed additions that I can think of.
Munson plum AKA Wild Goose Plum, Prunus monsonia
Mariana plum (P. cariefera X P. monsolia) Their are several strains of this. At least the one I grow makes a fabulous cherry plum and seems to be best pollinized by P. umbelata.
P. americana X P. salicina hybrids
P. canadensis X P. salicina hybrids
P. angustifolia X P. salicina hybrids
p. pumila X P. salicina hybrids
black cherry is eatable. It is what black cherry soda taste like. You would be hard pressed to collect enough to get usable juice from. The most common use is infusions ,liqueurs and cordials
On the off chance a ornamental Sakura Cherry produces a fruit it has the same flavor.
It is fantastic if processed right. The syrup is to die for. The Italians make the best candied black cherries in syrup, better than any other cherry product you can buy!
@JoeReal
One major stone fruit that is missing is the Canadian Romance series dwarf bush cherries which are a cross of Mongolian Cherry and sour cherry. Prunus fruticosa x P. cerasus.
By far my favorite cherries. High brix with that sour cherry flavor, it doesn’t get better.
Will try to add this as Bush Cherry, Canadian Romance (P. fruticosa x cerasus)
I remember that the P. fruticosa are hybridized to produce some of the Krymsk rootstocks. I tried fruiting the Krymsk 5 rootstock, but they never set fruits. It was covered from the ground to 6 ft up with flowers, with other various kinds of plums nearby including Nankings, but not a single fruit was set.
@JoeReal
This suggestion may not mesh well with what you are proposing to do and perhaps should be a separate reference project, but then again this might be a good time to do it: It would be so nice to have a thorough stone fruit identification chart in the reference section. You would include the descriptions you are proposing to assemble (including tastes), but what would really set it off is if after the description there were photos of the blooms, the leaves, bark, ripe fruit, and overall tree. I know such guides “sort of exist”, but I’ve never seen any that came close to including all the stone fruits people here grow. And this site has enough people growing enough different fruit that it might be the best chance ever to assemble such a thorough fruit tree ID guide. Members who grow common and uncommon varieties could send in photos of the blooms, leaves, fruit, etc. I honestly this this could quickly become the most valuable reference tool on this site. People are always posting photos and asking if this is what the label says it is or asking for help identified an unknown tree.
It would be a big project and would take a lot of time and work, but people here could all check and recheck each other and we could end up with one of the most thorough and accurate fruit tree guides available ANY WHERE.
Just something to consider, since you asked for suggestions!
I can only imagine that as a group project. But for whoever took the lead on this, it would make for a fabulous Masters thesis project, especially if the final product came with a usable plant key. Just the genus Prunus would be a huge undertaking. Of course with apples and pears there are huge books that do this, and they are not complete. Most of the best Southern Pear varieties don’t get mentioned in the comprehensive book on pears that recently came out. One of the biggest issues one would run into is that there are older varieties with mutable names and there are names that apply to multiple varieties. For example. There is an Excelsior Chickasaw Plum that widely cultivated in Georgia and Florida in the early 20th Century and there is a plum by the exact same name that his an Asian Plum X American Plum hybrid. The two plums are totally different and were apparently named completely independently of one another. I happen to know that the Excesior Chickasaw plum is named after a small town near Statesboro which is where the original wild parent tree was found in 1919. God bless.
I completely agree that it would take lots of people to contribute to a resource like that. I also agree that apples and pears seem to have much better, though not complete, identification guides. That’s why I’d love to see a comprehensive one for stone fruits, especially Prunus. You are right that it would make a great thesis for someone, but I also think it might could be a profitable project. Perhaps all the people on this site could contribute photos and descriptions off all our trees and eventually produce a guide that could actually be marketed- either as an on-line publication or a printed book or both. Might be a good way to help pay for this site in the future. Or put it in public domain. I’d just love to see a good place to go and look up a particular plum to see if it is what I think it is. I bet others would too?
After I assembled my 150-n-1 fruit tree, I’ve been compiling the info of all the things that I have added to it, and indeed it has been a lot of work, spanning an 8 year time, only updating it every year. Some varieties aren’t listed anywhere, and some were hybridized by friends.
So for our group, it would be our ongoing project. We know that many new cultivars would still be coming.
The Romance series would probably do poorly in your area, same with honeyberries. They are developing sweeter tasting honeyberry cultivars every year. The developer (U of Saskatchewan) calls them Dwarf Sour Cherries http://www.fruit.usask.ca/dwarfsourcherries.html