Manchurian Prune

This variety was obtained from seeds imported from Northern China. It was officially introduced in 1959 in the Khabarovsk and Primorsky regions.

The tree is vigorous, reaching up to 5.5 meters in height. The crown is round. Multi-year branches are thick, gray-brown, with densely arranged lenticels. One-year shoots are of medium size, dark brown with a reddish tint. Buds are very small, egg-shaped, forming three together on both one-year and multi-year wood; the outer two are generative, the middle one is vegetative and deviated from the shoot. Leaf blade is large, inversely egg-shaped (11.8 x 5.7 cm), dark green with a glossy surface, medium thickness, dense, with a pointed apex and slightly rounded base. Leaf blade surface is wrinkled, margin finely double-toothed. Petiole is of medium size, 1.5 cm, green, hairy. Stipules are large, linear. Flowers form two to three from the bud, small, 1.2 cm in diameter of the corolla, petals cream-colored, loosely arranged. Stamens 27, one pistil, 0.8 cm long, stigma located above the anthers, ovary unbranched. Ovate calyx, flower stalk length 1.0 cm. Flowering and fruiting type — on both multi-year and one-year wood.

Fruit of medium size, oval-shaped, asymmetrical, apex and base rounded, deep depression, average weight 15 g, maximum 18 g. Main color is purple, with dense waxy coating, nearly black. Ventral suture is strongly expressed, wide and deep at the base. Flesh is greenish-yellow, slightly dry, granular. Pedicel 1.1 cm long, moderately attached to the ripe fruit. Stone is of medium length, elongated-oval, average weight 1.2 g, constitutes 8% of flesh weight, easily separates. Fruit appearance is good. Flesh is sugary, aromatic. Taste rating 3.5 points. Pedicel detaches moderately from the fruit. Fruits are transportable. Fresh fruits contain dry matter — 10.0%, sugars — 8.5%, acids — 0.8%, ascorbic acid — 18 mg/100g. Horticultural use is universal: fresh consumption, drying, and preservation — jams, compote, syrup, juice, etc.

Flowering period 18-26 May, fruit ripening period 2-10 September. Begins fruiting at 3-4 years, plant longevity 18 years. Self-sterile, well pollinated by 'Manchurian Beauty' and Ulmus species varieties. Visual yield rating 4-5 points. Average yield — 20 kg per tree, maximum — 32 kg. Cold-hardy, does not tolerate drought. Susceptible to measles, clasterosporiosis, moniliosis of inflorescences and fruits. Severely affected by plum fruitworm.

Advantages: late-ripening variety, early fruiting, purple, nearly black fruits with intense waxy coating, suitable for drying, cold-hardiness.

Disadvantages: susceptibility to fungal diseases and plum fruitworm.