Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy, productive;
branchlets with long internodes, dull, marked with
yellowish-brown scarf-skin; leaf-buds large, long, pointed,
free; leaves flattened, obovate or oval, one and three-quarters
inches wide, three and five-eighths inches long, thick, dark
green; margin crenate, eglandular or with small, dark glands;
petiole one inch long, tinged red, glandless or with from
one to four small, yellowish-green glands; blooming season
intermediate, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one
inch across; borne on lateral spurs, singly or in pairs;
filaments seven-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter
than the stamens.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period long; about one and
five-eighths inches in diameter, roundish-ovate, dark
purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; flesh
greenish-yellow, fibrous, firm, sweet, mild and pleasant; good
to very good; stone nearly free, one inch by three-quarters
inch in size, ovate or oval, flattened, roughened and deeply
pitted, tapering abruptly to a short, pointed apex; ventral
suture narrow, with a short but distinct wing; dorsal suture
with a wide groove.
LAFAYETTE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:96. 1832. =2.= Tucker’s _Gen.
Farmer_ =3=:153. 1839. =3.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 427. 1854. =4.=
_Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 222, 244. 1858. =5.= Hogg _Fruit Man._
368. 1866. =6.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 916. 1869. =7.= _Guide
Prat._ 160, 359. 1895.
Gifford’s Lafayette 1, 4, 6. Gifford’s La Fayette 2, 3.
Lafayette originated in New York sometime in the first quarter of the
last century with a Mr. Gifford from a stone of the Orleans. It did not
become popular and was rejected by the American Pomological Society in
1858, but just why it failed is not apparent, judging either from the
descriptions given in the above references or by its behavior in the
orchard at this Station. The fruit is good, though not remarkable for
the richness of its flavor, its size is large and the color attractive.
Moreover it is so late as to stand almost alone in its season. A
retrial of this old sort commercially might be worth while. The tree is
interesting because of a marked tendency in the flowers to develop petals
from the stamens.
Tree of medium size, round-topped, productive; branchlets
stocky, with long internodes; leaf-scars large; leaves folded
upward, oval or obovate, two inches wide, four inches long,
rugose; margin crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole
pubescent, tinged red, having at the most three small glands
usually on the stalk; blooming season intermediate in time and
length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-quarter
inches wide, creamy-white; borne in pairs; calyx-lobes long and
slender.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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