Flora of New Zealand Series

plum

Deciduous, generally small tree up to c. 6-(9) m high when mature, sometimes forming thickets, not or sparsely armed; trunk short to fairly tall; secondary branches erect to spreading. Lf petiole (10)-15-30 mm long, pilose at least when young; blade moderately thin, obovate to broadly elliptic or suborbicular, 30-70-(120) × 15-45-(60) mm, acute or short-apiculate at apex, cuneate at base, glabrous and ± slightly shining above, duller below, hairy at first and usually with at least some hairs remaining on major veins and lower part of margins, otherwise glabrous, serrulate, almost 2-serrate or crenate, sometimes with teeth glandular; stipules short, oblong-triangular, deciduous. Fls 1-2-(4), in fascicles on short shoots, not fragrant; pedicels (5)-10-25-(30) mm long, pendent or spreading, glabrous or hairy, greenish. Hypanthium broad; sepals oblong-lanceolate, c. 3 mm long, obtuse, glabrous or glabrate except on inner face, mostly green, often becoming reflexed, with or without marginal, stalked glands. Petals 5, spreading, ± orbicular or elliptic-obovate, (8)-10-15 mm long, rounded, ± undulate, white or greenish white. Stamens < petals; filaments whitish. Fr. (20)-25-45 mm long (to c. 60 mm in cultivation), globose, subglobose, broadly ellipsoid or broadly ovoid-oblong, sulcate, glabrous, green, yellow, red or blackish purple in flesh and skin, usually pruinose, somewhat sweet to dry or slightly bitter; stone smooth.

N.; S.; St.: occasional escape especially in and around settlements.

Cultivated hybrid 1922

Wasteland, roadsides, railways, tracks.

FL Aug-Sep FT Jan-Feb.

Cvs of P. × domestica are widely and abundantly grown and often occur as relics in older gardens. This hybrid and its named subspp. and cvs are hexaploid, apparently originating as hybrids of the European and S.W. Asian spp. P. divaricata Ledeb. (from which P. cerasifera has most probably been derived) and P. spinosa L., sloe. The numerous forms and cvs of plum are often assigned to 2 subspp.: subsp. domestica (true plums) is spineless, with young twigs and pedicels ± hairy, fr. longer than wide and reddish or purple with flesh usually free or partly free from stone, and rarely grows spontaneously; subsp. insititia (L.) C. Schneider (damsons and greengages) is sometimes spiny, with young twigs and pedicels hairy, fr. subglobose and green, yellow, red or blackish purple, with flesh usually clinging to the stone, and fairly commonly grows spontaneously. subsp. insititia is still commonly cultivated in N.Z., especially in older gardens.