The origin of this plum is uncertain. German writers very generally hold that it came from Asia whence it was carried during the Crusades to Europe. Lauche, a German authority, says, “In the Sixteenth Century, the first dried prunes were introduced into Italy, Switzerland and Germany from Hungary. The tree on the contrary is said not to have been introduced by us until the end of the Seventeenth Century.” A Prune Plum was noted in America by Coxe in 1817, but it is impossible to say whether he meant the German Prune. Prince, however, in 1832, described the variety under its present name. In 1856, the American Pomological Society placed the German Prune on the list of the varieties promising well and six years later added it to its fruit catalog. The German Prune is used only in the fresh state in New York, but on the Pacific Coast, in some one of its several types, it is one of the half-dozen leading sorts for curing. Tree medium to large, vigorous, round and dense-topped, hardy, usually very productive; branches ash-gray, somewhat rough, with lenticels variable in size; branchlets slender, short, with internodes of medium length, green changing to brownish-red, dull, glabrous, with numerous, small, obscure lenticels; leaf-buds intermediate in size and length, conical, free. Leaves falling early, oval or obovate, one and one-half inches wide, three inches long, thinnish, velvety; upper surface pubescent, slightly rugose, with a shallow groove on the midrib; lower surface yellowish-green, heavily pubescent; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base acute, margin finely serrate, with small glands; petiole one-half inch long, pubescent, tinged with red, glandless or with one or two small, globose glands usually at the base of the leaf. Blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, nearly one inch across, inconspicuous on account of their greenish-yellow color, which characterizes the variety; borne on lateral spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels five-eighths inch long; below medium in thickness, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, lightly pubescent at the base; calyx-lobes long, narrow, acute, thinly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, erect; petals narrow, long-oval or obovate, erose, tapering to broad claws of medium length; anthers yellowish; filaments seven-sixteenths inch long; pistil very pubescent at the base, equal to the stamens in length.