Bullace

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Bullace
Late summer bounty - geograph.org.uk - 243791.jpg
Black bullaces growing in a Denbighshire hedgerow
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Prunus
Species:
Subspecies:
Variety:
P. d. var. nigra
Trinomial name
Prunus domestica var. nigra

The bullace is a variety of plum. It bears edible fruit similar to those of the damson, and like the damson is considered to be a strain of the insititia subspecies of Prunus domestica . Although the term has regionally been applied to several different kinds of "wild plum" found in the United Kingdom, it is usually taken to refer to varieties with a spherical shape, as opposed to the oval damsons. [1] [2]

Contents

Unlike nearly all damsons, bullaces may be either "white" (i.e. yellow or green) or "black" (i.e. blue or purple) in colour, and ripen up to six weeks later in the year. [3] Though smaller than most damsons, bullaces are much larger than the closely related sloe. [3] Their flavour is usually rather acidic until fully ripe.

Etymology and origin

Bullace blossom Biyoki d' tchen fleurs.jpg
Bullace blossom

The name probably originates from the Old French beloce, meaning "sloe", via Middle English bolas. Wild plums were formerly given the related name "bullies" in parts of Lincolnshire. [4] They were also known as the "bullum-tree" in Cornwall; "bullison" in Wiltshire; "scad" in Sussex; and as the "wild damson" in Yorkshire. [5] The similar word bwlas was used in the Welsh language.

Like other varieties of Prunus domestica, the bullace may have had its origin in hybrids between the sloe ( Prunus spinosa ) and cherry plum ( Prunus cerasifera ), though there is also evidence that domestica was solely descended from the latter. [6] Another theory suggests that the bullace developed (or was selected) over time from the sloe, without the involvement of Prunus cerasifera. [7] Prunus insititia is still, however, occasionally regarded as a separate (entirely native) species. [6] It is possible that the bullace is genuinely native to Great Britain: the horticulturalist Harold Taylor, in his book The Plums of England, described it as "the only truly English plum", observing that all other hybrid varieties of plum and damson had at least some non-native origins. [8]

Although once cultivated, and familiar to gardeners of the Tudor period, the bullace gradually fell out of favour as newer, larger or sweeter types of damson or plum displaced it, and it hung on at the fringes of cultivation. [5] Its hardiness meant that, like the damson, it was occasionally planted as a windbreak or hedging tree, and until the 20th century was regarded as valuable for providing fruit very late in the year.

Varieties

Four main varieties of bullace are recognised in England: the White, Black, Shepherd's and Langley. [1] The bullace may be found as a small tree, growing to around 8 metres in height, or as a bush, distinguishable from the sloe by its broader leaves and small number or complete absence of spines. There is, however, a wide variation between trees in different districts due to hybridization and local selection. Bullaces generally ripen in October–November, rather later than other types of plum, and fruit heavily. They may sometimes be found growing wild in woods or hedgerows, particularly near old farmhouses; others may be found in old gardens or orchards, or can still be purchased from some nurseries.

Black Bullace

The Black Bullace is the common "wild" bullace of woods in England, recognisable by its small, round black or dark purple fruit. [9] It is sometimes classified as insititia var. nigra. [10] It can be quite astringent until very ripe, or subject to a slight frost; a larger variety known as the "New Black Bullace" was later developed from it.

White Bullace

Fruit of the White or Golden Bullace, showing the slight blush often found on the sunward side Fruit of white bullace.jpg
Fruit of the White or Golden Bullace, showing the slight blush often found on the sunward side

The White Bullace, sometimes classified as insititia var. syriaca, [10] has small, yellowish fruit, with greenish flesh. [11] A very old variety, it was once known in Cambridgeshire and Essex by the name "cricksies" or "crickses", formed on an earlier plural "creeks", and probably originating in Anglo-Norman creke. [12] It was grown in large quantities in Norfolk in the 19th century, for use in preserving or cooking; [11] Hogg described the flesh as "firm, juicy, sweet and subacid". [13] It is also occasionally referred to as the "Golden Bullace".

Shepherd's Bullace

This variety has relatively large round fruit, ripening by October to a grass green or yellowish green colour, with small red spots on the sunward side. [14] It was formerly common in Kent and Essex and may still be found in hedgerows in eastern England.

Langley Bullace

The Langley Bullace, or "Veitch's Black Bullace", is by far the newest variety, being first raised in 1902 by the Veitch nurseries at Langley, Berkshire. It was a cross between an Orleans plum and the Farleigh damson, and is therefore not considered a true bullace in some sources. [15] This is the largest variety, and when ripe - which occurs in November - is much the sweetest.

Other varieties

Other names have appeared, but are likely to represent either the above broad types or variations of them; Abercrombie and Mawe, writing in 1779, described three types of bullace, the "white", "black" and "red". [16] Loudon also mentions a black, white and red bullace, as well a double flowered variety flore pleno. [17] Hogg described an "Essex Bullace", which appears in all respects identical to the Shepherd's Bullace, and a "Royal Bullace", said to bear very large, yellow-green fruit. A "New Large Bullace", probably synonymous with the Royal Bullace, was occasionally mentioned, described as very similar to the Shepherd's Bullace but with larger leaves, many of which were glandless, a much more vigorous habit, and lighter cropping. [18]

Uses

Bullaces are often stated to only be suitable for cooking. [19] As well as being used for stewing and making various fruit preserves, they were also traditionally used to make fruit wine, and a bullace pie was stated to be one of the usual centrepieces of a 19th-century harvest home supper in the south of England. [20] However, some bullaces are palatable raw when sufficiently ripe.

See also

Related Research Articles

Pluot

Pluots, apriums, apriplums, or plumcots, are some of the hybrids between different Prunus species that are also called interspecific plums. Whereas plumcots and apriplums are first-generation hybrids between a plum parent and an apricot, pluots and apriums are later-generations. Both names "plumcot" and "apriplum" have been used for trees derived from a plum seed parent, and are therefore equivalent.

Plum Edible fruit

A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus. Mature plum fruits may have a dusty-white waxy coating that gives them a glaucous appearance. This is an epicuticular wax coating and is known as "wax bloom". Dried plums are called prunes, which have a dark, wrinkled appearance.

Drupe Fleshy fruit with hard inner layer (endocarp or stone) surrounding the seed

In botany, a drupe is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a single shell of hardened endocarp with a seed (kernel) inside. These fruits usually develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries.

<i>Prunus</i> Genus of trees and shrubs

Prunus is a genus of trees and shrubs, which includes the fruits plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds.

<i>Prunus mume</i> East Asian tree species

Prunus mume is an East Asian and Southeast Asian tree species classified in the Armeniaca section of the genus Prunus subgenus Prunus. Its common names include Chinese plum,Japanese plum, and Japanese apricot. The flower, long a beloved subject in the traditional painting and poetry of East Asia and Vietnam, is usually called plum blossom. This distinct tree species is related to both the plum and apricot trees. Although generally referred to as a plum in English, it is more closely related to the apricot. In East Asian cuisine and Vietnamese cuisine, the fruit of the tree is used in juices, as a flavouring for alcohol, as a pickle and in sauces. It is also used in traditional medicine.

<i>Prunus spinosa</i> Species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae

Prunus spinosa, called blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, western Asia, and locally in northwest Africa. It is also locally naturalized in New Zealand, Tasmania and eastern North America.

Greengage Group of fruit culttivars

The greengages are a group of cultivars of the common European plum. The first true greengage came from a green-fruited wild plum which originated in Iran (Persia). Greengages are grown in temperate areas and are known for the rich, confectionery flavour. They are considered to be among the finest dessert plums.

Damson Edible fruit

The damson or damson plum, also archaically called the "damascene", is an edible drupaceous fruit, a subspecies of the plum tree. Varieties of insititia are found across Europe, but the name damson is derived from and most commonly applied to forms that are native to Great Britain. Damsons are relatively small ovoid plum-like fruit with a distinctive, somewhat astringent taste, and are widely used for culinary purposes, particularly in fruit preserves and jams.

<i>Prunus cerasifera</i> Species of plum

Prunus cerasifera is a species of plum known by the common names cherry plum and myrobalan plum. It is native to Southeast Europe and Western Asia, and is naturalised in the British Isles and scattered locations in North America. Also naturalized in parts of SE Australia where it is considered to be a mildly invasive weed of bushland near urban centers.

Mirabelle plum Subspecies of plum

Mirabelle plum, also known as mirabelle prune or cherry plum, is a cultivar group of plum trees of the genus Prunus. It is believed that the plum was cultivated from a wild fruit grown in Anatolia.

<i>Prunus salicina</i> Species of tree

Prunus salicina, commonly called the Japanese plum or Chinese plum, is a small deciduous tree native to China. It is now also grown in fruit orchards in Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Israel, the United States, and Australia.

<i>Prunus maritima</i> Species of tree

Prunus maritima, the beach plum, is a species of plum native to the East Coast of the United States, from Maine south to Maryland. Although sometimes listed as extending to New Brunswick, the species is not known from collections there, and does not appear in the most authoritative works on the flora of that Canadian province.

<i>Prunus nigra</i> Species of tree

Prunus nigra, the Canada plum, Canadian plum, or black plum, is a species of Prunus, native to eastern North America from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota and southeastern Manitoba, and south as far as Connecticut, Illinois, and Iowa. It formerly also grew in Ohio but is now thought to be extinct in that state. Isolated populations are present along streambanks in Saskatchewan and Alberta, along Lake Timiskaming in northern Ontario, and along the Maine-New Brunswick border, though this latter population is now severely threatened as the tree is a host for an aphid that menaces the local potato crop and so many of the trees have been cut down.

<i>Prunus americana</i> Species of tree

Prunus americana, commonly called the American plum, wild plum, or Marshall's large yellow sweet plum, is a species of Prunus native to North America from Saskatchewan and Idaho south to New Mexico and east to Québec, Maine and Florida.

<i>Prunus domestica</i> Species of flowering plant

Prunus domestica, the European plum is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. A deciduous tree, it includes many varieties of the fruit trees known as plums in English, though not all plums belong to this species. The greengages and damsons also belong to subspecies of P. domestica.

<i>Taphrina pruni</i> Species of fungus

Taphrina pruni is a fungal plant pathogen of blackthorn that causes the pocket or bladder plum gall, a chemically induced distortion of the fruit (sloes), producing swollen on one side, otherwise deformed and flattened fruit gall without a stone. The twigs on infected plants may also be deformed with small strap-shaped leaves.

Perdrigon Culinary plum

The perdrigon, occasionally spelt "perdigon", is an old variety of culinary plum originating in the south of France. It is sometimes classified as a variety of Prunus domestica subsp. insititia, like the British damson and German krieche, though it has significant differences from both. It was once classed as Prunus pertigona or Prunus domestica pertigona.

<i>Prunus <span style="font-style:normal;">subg.</span> Prunus</i> Subgenus of plants

Prunus subg. Prunus is a subgenus of Prunus. This subgenus includes plums, apricots and bush cherries. Most species inside this subgenus are sugary, storing large amounts of energy which is why most Prunus species are soft and rubbery. Some species conventionally included in Prunus subg. Amygdalus are clustered with plum/apricot species according to molecular phylogenetic studies. Shi et al. (2013) has incorporated subg. Amygdalus into subg. Prunus, thereby including almonds and peaches in this subgenus.

Prune plum Subspecies of edible fruit

The prune plum is a fruit-bearing tree, or its fruit. It is a subspecies of the plum Prunus domestica. The freestone fruit is similar to, but distinct from, the clingstone damson and is especially popular in Central Europe.

<i>Prunus <span style="font-style:normal;">sect.</span> Prunus</i> Section of plants

Prunus sect. Prunus is a section of Prunus subg. Prunus. It contains species of Eurasian plum.

References

  1. 1 2 Taylor, H. V. The Plums of England, Lockwood, 1949, p.6
  2. Hogg, R. The fruit manual: a guide to the fruits and fruit trees of Great Britain, JHO, 1884, p.689
  3. 1 2 Vaughan, J. and Geissler, C. The new Oxford book of food plants, OUP, 2009, p.76
  4. Peacock, E. A glossary of words used in the wapentakes of Manley and Corringham, Lincolnshire, English Dialect Society, 1889, p.79
  5. 1 2 Grigson, G. The Englishman's flora, Hart-Davis, 1975, p.176
  6. 1 2 Rose-related fruits, Natural History Museum
  7. Woldring, H. "On the origin of plums: a study of sloe, damson, cherry plums, domestic plums and their intermediate forms", in Palaeohistoria, 39,40 (1997-1998): Institute of Archaeology, Groningen, 535
  8. Taylor, 1949, p.2
  9. Bagenal, N. B. Fruit growing: modern cultural methods, Ward, Lock, 1939, p.186
  10. 1 2 Sell, P. "The cherries and plums of Cambridgeshire", Nature in Cambridgeshire, 33 (1991), 31
  11. 1 2 Lindley, G. A guide to the orchard and fruit garden, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, 1831, p.467
  12. Notes and Queries , 1851, p.451, and 1898, p.117
  13. Hogg, p.257
  14. Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, 1920, p.623
  15. Bagenal, p.188
  16. Abercrombie, J. and Mawe, T. The British fruit-gardener, and art of pruning, 1779, p.99
  17. London, J. C. Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, 1844, p. li
  18. Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, 1906, 623
  19. RHS Complete Gardener's Manual, Dorling Kindersley, 2011, p.266
  20. British Cyclopædia of the Arts, Sciences, History, Geography, Literature, Natural History, and Biography, Wm. S. Orr, 1838, p. 643