Plum

Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans.[2] Three of the most abundant cultivars are not found in the wild, only around human settlements: Prunus domestica has been traced to East European and Caucasian mountains, while Prunus salicina and Prunus simonii originated in Asia. Plum remains have been found in Neolithic age archaeological sites along with olives, grapes and figs.[3][4] According to Ken Albala, plums originated in Iran.[5]

The name plum derived from Old English plume or "plum, plum tree," which extended from Germanic language or Middle Dutch, and Latin prūnum, from Ancient Greek προῦμνον (proumnon), believed to be a loanword from Asia Minor.[1][6] In the late 18th century, the word, plum, was used to indicate "something desirable", probably in reference to tasty fruit pieces in desserts.[6]

Plums are a diverse group of species. The commercially important plum trees are medium-sized, usually pruned to 5–6 metres height. The tree is of medium hardiness.[7] Without pruning, the trees can reach 12 metres in height and spread across 10 metres. They blossom in different months in different parts of the world; for example, in about January in Taiwan and early April in the United Kingdom.[8]

Fruits are usually of medium size, between 2 and 7 centimetres in diameter, globose to oval. The flesh is firm and juicy. The fruit's peel is smooth, with a natural waxy surface that adheres to the flesh. The plum is a drupe, meaning its fleshy fruit surrounds a single hard seed.

Plum flowers

Sloe or blackthorn, Prunus spinosa

Plum cultivars include:

• Damson (purple or black skin, green flesh, clingstone, astringent)
• Greengage (firm, green flesh and skin even when ripe)
• Mirabelle (dark yellow, predominantly grown in northeast France)
• Satsuma plum (firm red flesh with a red skin)
• Victoria (yellow flesh with a red or mottled skin)
• Yellowgage or golden plum (similar to greengage, but yellow)

• Different plum cultivars
• 
  Damsons
• 
  Greengages
• 
  Mirabelles
• 
  Victoria plums

When it flowers in the early spring, a plum tree will be covered in blossoms, and in a good year approximately 50% of the flowers will be pollinated and become plums. Flowering starts after 80 growing degree days.

If the weather is too dry, the plums will not develop past a certain stage, but will fall from the tree while still tiny, green buds, and if it is unseasonably wet or if the plums are not harvested as soon as they are ripe, the fruit may develop a fungal condition called brown rot. Brown rot is not toxic, and some affected areas can be cut out of the fruit, but unless the rot is caught immediately, the fruit will no longer be edible. Plum is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera, including November moth, willow beauty and short-cloaked moth.

Dried yellow plums

The taste of the plum fruit ranges from sweet to tart; the skin itself may be particularly tart. It is juicy and can be eaten fresh or used in jam-making or other recipes. Plum juice can be fermented into plum wine. In central England, a cider-like alcoholic beverage known as plum jerkum is made from plums. Dried, salted plums are used as a snack, sometimes known as saladito or salao. Various flavors of dried plum are available at Chinese grocers and specialty stores worldwide. They tend to be much drier than the standard prune. Cream, ginseng, spicy, and salty are among the common varieties. Licorice is generally used to intensify the flavor of these plums and is used to make salty plum drinks and toppings for shaved ice or baobing. Pickled plums are another type of preserve available in Asia and international specialty stores. The Japanese variety, called umeboshi, is often used for rice balls, called onigiri or omusubi. The ume, from which umeboshi are made, is more closely related, however, to the apricot than to the plum. In the Balkans, plum is converted into an alcoholic drink named slivovitz (plum brandy) (Serbian: šljivovica).[9][10] A large number of plums, of the Damson variety, are also grown in Hungary, where they are called szilva and are used to make lekvar (a plum paste jam), palinka (traditional fruit brandy), plum dumplings, and other foods. In Romania, 80% of the plum production is used to create a similar brandy, called țuică.[11]

As with many other members of the rose family, plum kernels contain cyanogenic glycosides, including amygdalin.[12] Prune kernel oil is made from the fleshy inner part of the pit of the plum. Though not available commercially, the wood of plum trees is used by hobbyists and other private woodworkers for musical instruments, knife handles, inlays, and similar small projects.[13]

Plum production, 2016
(tonnes)

Country	Production
China	6,663,165
European Union	1,486,082
Romania	512,975
Serbia	463,115
United States	392,537
Turkey	297,589
Iran	269,113
India	261,903
Spain	222,020
Italy	220,729
World	12,050,800
Source: UN Food & Agriculture Organization[14]

Plums have many species, and taxonomists differ on the count. Depending on the taxonomist, between 19 and 40 species of plum exist. From this diversity only two species, the hexaploid European plum (Prunus domestica) and the diploid Japanese plum (Prunus salicina and hybrids), are of worldwide commercial significance. The origin of these commercially important species is uncertain but may have involved P. cerasifera and possibly P. spinosa as ancestors. Other species of plum variously originated in Europe, Asia and America.[15]

The subgenus Prunus is divided into three sections:

Sect. Prunus (Old World plums) – leaves in bud rolled inwards; flowers 1-3 together; fruit smooth, often wax-bloomed

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution	Cytology
	P. cerasifera	cherry plum, myrobalan plum	Southeast Europe and Western Asia	2n=16,(24)
	P. cocomilia	Italian plum	Albania, Croatia, Greece, southern Italy (including Sicily), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and western Turkey
	P. japonica	Japanese bush cherry	Central China through to the Korean peninsula
	P. domestica (species of most "plums" and "prunes")		Europe	2n=16, 48
	P. domestica ssp. insititia	damsons, bullaces	Asia
	P. salicina	Chinese plum	China	2n=16,(24)
	P. simonii (widely cultivated in North China)[16]		China	2n=16
	P. spinosa	blackthorn or sloe	Europe, western Asia, and locally in northwest Africa	2n=4x=32

Sect. Prunocerasus (New World plums) – leaves in bud folded inwards; flowers 3–5 together; fruit smooth, often wax-bloomed

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution	Cytology
	P. alleghaniensis	Allegheny plum	the Appalachian Mountains from New York to Kentucky and North Carolina, plus the Lower Peninsula of Michigan
	P. americana	American plum	North America from Saskatchewan and Idaho south to New Mexico and east to Québec, Maine and Florida
	P. angustifolia	Chickasaw plum	Florida west as far as New Mexico and California
	P. gracilis	Oklahoma plum	Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas
	P. havardii	Havard's plum	western Texas in the United States and to northern Chihuahua across the Río Grande in Mexico
	P. hortulana	Hortulan plum	Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia
	P. maritima	Beach plum	East Coast of the United States, from Maine south to Maryland
	P. mexicana	Mexican plum	central United States and Northern Mexico
	P. murrayana	Murray's plum	Texas
	P. nigra	Canada plum, Black plum	eastern North America from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota and southeastern Manitoba, and south as far as Connecticut, Illinois, and Iowa
	P. × orthosepala (P. americana × P. angustifolia)		southern and central United States
	P. reverchonii	Thicket plum
	P. rivularis	River plum, Creek plum,Wildgoose plum	California, Arkansas, southern Illinois, south-eastern Kansas, Kentucky, northern Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, south-western Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas
	P. subcordata	Klamath, Oregon, or Sierra plum	California and western and southern Oregon
	P. texana	Texas plum, Sand plum, Peachbush plum	central and western Texas
	P. umbellata	Hog plum, Flatwoods plum, Sloe plum	United States from Virginia, south to Florida, and west to Texas

Sect. Armeniaca (apricots) – leaves in bud rolled inwards; flowers very short-stalked; fruit velvety; treated as a distinct subgenus by some authors

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution	Cytology
	P. armeniaca	apricot	Asia	2n=16
	P. brigantina	Briançon apricot, marmot plum	Europe
	P. mandshurica	Manchurian apricot and Scout apricot	northeast China, Korea, and Manchuria
	P. mume	Chinese plum, Japanese apricot	Western Asia
	P. sibirica	Siberian apricot	eastern China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and eastern Siberia.

In certain parts of the world, some fruits are called plums and are quite different from fruits known as plums in Europe or the Americas. For example, marian plums are popular in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, otherwise also known as gandaria, plum mango, ma-praang, ma-yong, ramania, kundang, rembunia or setar.[17] Another example is the loquat, also known as Japanese plum and Japanese medlar, as well as nispero, bibassier and wollmispel elsewhere.[18][19] In South Asia and Southeast Asia, jambul, a fruit from tropical tree in family Myrtaceae, is similarly sometimes referred to 'damson plums', and it is different from damson plums found in Europe and Americas.[20] Jambul is also called as Java plum, Malabar plum, jaman, jamun, jamblang, jiwat, salam, duhat, koeli, jambuláo or koriang.

In 2016, global production of plums and sloes was 12.1 million tonnes, led by China with 55% of the world total (table).[14] Other major producers were Romania, Serbia, and the United States (table).

Raw plums are 87% water, 11% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and less than 1% fat (table). In a 100 gram amount, raw plums supply 46 calories and are a moderate source only of vitamin C (12% Daily Value), with no other nutrients in significant content (table).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Plums.

Look up plum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Prunus americanum images hosted by the Department of Biological Sciences of Vanderbilt University
• Plum orchards information – Ministry of Agriculture, British Columbia, Canada