''Prunus simonii'', called apricot plum and Simon plum, is a tree in the genus ''
Prunus
''Prunus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs from the family (biology), family Rosaceae. The genus includes plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots and almonds (collectively Drupe, stonefruit). The genus has a cosm ...
''. It was first described by
Elie-Abel Carrière in 1872 and is native to
Hebei province
Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
, China.
The species is not known in a truly wild state.
It has been important for breeding commercial
plum
A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century.
Plums are ...
cultivars from crosses with other species of the genus ''Prunus''.
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.
[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.]
Beginning about 1881, the species became commonly known in the United States; having been introduced there from France.
Description
''Prunus simonii'' is a small deciduous tree growing to about in height.
The flowers produce almost no pollen; the fruit varies in quality, can be bitter or pleasant to eat, and is flat in shape.
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
or "brick red".
The branches are slender and the leaves oblong.
In appearance, the fruit is flatter than most plums, looking "tomato-like".
The fruit is particularly aromatic, much more so than ''
Prunus salicina'', with a comparatively high level of
hexyl acetate, which gives apples their aroma.
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.
Of these, the cultivar '
Climax' was particularly notable for its importance to the fruit shipping industry of California.
Other influential plum cultivars that Burbank developed with ''P. simonii'' ancestry include 'Maynard', 'Chalco', 'Santa Rosa', and 'Formosa'.
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''.
References
External links
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q3017242
Plants described in 1872
simonii
simonii