Plum

Plums are likely to have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans.{{cite book|title=Horticultural Reviews (Volume 23)|editor=Jules Janick|year=1998|isbn=978-0471254454|publisher=Wiley}} Three of the most abundantly cultivated species 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 China. Plum remains have been found in Neolithic age archaeological sites along with olives, grapes and figs.{{cite web|title=The origins of fruits, fruit growing and fruit breeding|author=Jules Janick|publisher=Purdue University|year=2005|url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/NEWCROP/pdfs/origins-fruit-growing-breeding.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521204917/http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pdfs/origins-fruit-growing-breeding.pdf|archive-date=2013-05-21}}{{cite journal|title=Chemical analyses of organic residues in archaeological pottery from Arbon Bleiche|author=Spangenberg|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|volume=33|issue=1|date= January 2006|pages=1–13|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2005.05.013|display-authors=etal}} According to Ken Albala, plums originated in Iran.{{Cite book|last=Albala|first=Ken|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NTo6c_PJWRgC&q=lavash+originated+iran&pg=PA240|title=Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia|date=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-37626-9|language=en|page=240}} They were brought to Britain from Asia.{{Cite book|last=Lyle|first=Katie Letcher|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/560560606|title=The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Mushrooms, Fruits, and Nuts: How to Find, Identify, and Cook Them|publisher=FalconGuides|year=2010|isbn=978-1-59921-887-8|edition=2nd|location=Guilford, CN|pages=107|oclc=560560606|orig-year=2004}}

An article on plum tree cultivation in Andalusia (southern Spain) appears in Ibn al-'Awwam's 12th-century agricultural work, Book on Agriculture.{{cite book|last=Ibn al-'Awwam|first=Yaḥyá|author-link=Ibn al-'Awwam|title=Le livre de l'agriculture d'Ibn-al-Awam (kitab-al-felahah) |year=1864|location=Paris|publisher=A. Franck|translator=J.-J. Clement-Mullet |pages=319–321 (ch. 7 - Article 42)|url=https://archive.org/details/lelivredelagric00algoog/page/n14/mode/2up |language=fr|oclc=780050566}} (pp. [https://archive.org/details/lelivredelagric00algoog/page/n427/mode/1up 319]–321 (Article XLII)

Plum cultivation is recorded in medieval monasteries in England. A garden with 'ploumes' and 'bulaces' is referred to by Chaucer.{{Cite book |last=Davidson |first=Alan |title=The Oxford companion to food |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-19-967733-7 |editor-last=Jaine |editor-first=Tom |edition=3. ed. / ed. by Tom Jaine |location=Oxford}}

The cultivation of plums increased during the 17th and 18th centuries. During this period greengages were given their English name and the Mirabelle plum became firmly established. Advances in the development of new varieties in England were made by Thomas Rivers. Two examples of River's work are the varieties Early Rivers and Czar. Both are still esteemed. The fame of the Victoria plum, first sold in 1844, has been put down to good marketing rather than any inherent quality.

The name plum derived from Old English {{lang|ang|plume}} "plum, plum tree", borrowed from Germanic or Middle Dutch, derived from Latin {{lang|la|prūnum}}{{L&S|prunum|prūnum|ref}} and ultimately from Ancient Greek {{lang|grc|προῦμνον}} {{lang|grc-latn|proumnon}},{{LSJ|prou{{=}}mnon|προῦμνον|ref}}. itself believed to be a loanword from an unknown language of Asia Minor.{{OEtymD|plum}} In the late 18th century, the word plum was used to indicate "something sweet or agreeable", probably in reference to tasty fruit pieces in desserts, as in the word sugar-plum.

Plums are a diverse group of species. The commercially important plum trees are medium-sized, usually pruned to {{convert|5|–|6|m}} height. The tree is of medium hardiness.{{cite web|title=Plum, prune, European type|publisher=Purdue University|year=1999|url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Crops/Plum_prune.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120412183755/http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Crops/Plum_prune.html|archive-date=2012-04-12}} Without pruning, the trees can reach {{convert|12|m|ft}} in height and spread across {{convert|10|m|ft}}. 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Prunus+domestica|title=Prunus domestica Plum, European plum PFAF Plant Database|work=pfaf.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121122110734/http://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Prunus+domestica|archive-date=2012-11-22}}

Fruits are usually of medium size, between {{convert|2|-|7|cm}} 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 fruitstone which encloses the fruit's seed.

File:16-09-17-WikiLovesCocktails-Zutaten-Img0163.jpg|Japanese or Chinese plum

File:Damson plum fruit.jpg|Damsons (European plum)

File:Slivka.JPG|Prune plums (European plum)

File:Prunus domestica 'Reine Victoria'.jpg|Victoria plums (European plum)

File:Greengages 0.jpg|Greengages (European plum)

File:Mirabellen.jpg|Mirabelles (European plum)

File:Cherry plums.jpg|Myrobalan or cherry plums

{{nutritional value | name=Plums, raw

| kJ=192

| water=87 g

| protein=0.7 g

| fat=0.28 g

| carbs=11.42 g

| fiber=1.4 g

| sugars=9.92 g

| calcium_mg=6

| iron_mg=0.17

| magnesium_mg=7

| phosphorus_mg=16

| potassium_mg=157

| sodium_mg=0

| zinc_mg=0.1

| manganese_mg=0.052

| vitC_mg=9.5

| thiamin_mg=0.028

| riboflavin_mg=0.026

| niacin_mg=0.417

| pantothenic_mg=0.135

| vitB6_mg=0.029

| folate_ug=5

| vitA_ug=17

| betacarotene_ug=190

| lutein_ug=73

| vitE_mg=0.26

| vitK_ug=6.4

| source_usda = 1

| note=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160216204807/http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list?qlookup=09279&format=Full Link to USDA Database entry]

}}

Japanese or Chinese plums are large and juicy with a long shelf life and therefore dominate the fresh fruit market. They are usually clingstone and not suitable for making prunes.{{Cite web|title=Plums|url=https://magazine.wsu.edu/2017/08/07/plums/|access-date=2021-02-20|website=Washington State Magazine|language=en-US|last1=Clark|first1=Larry}} They are cultivars of Prunus salicina or its hybrids. The cultivars developed in the US are mostly hybrids of P. salicina with P. simonii and P. cerasifera. Although these cultivars are often called Japanese plums, two of the three parents (P. salicina and P. simonii) originated from China and one (P. cerasifera) from Eurasia.{{Cite journal|last1=Boonprakob|first1=U.|last2=Byrne|first2=D.H.|date=2003|title=Species composition of Japanese plum founding clones as revealed by RAPD markers|url=https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2003.622.51|journal=Acta Horticulturae|issue=622|pages=473–476|doi=10.17660/actahortic.2003.622.51|issn=0567-7572|url-access=subscription}}

File:Prune.JPG

In some parts of Europe, European plum (Prunus domestica) is also common in fresh fruit market. It has both dessert (eating) or culinary (cooking) cultivars, which include:

• Damson (purple or black skin, green flesh, clingstone, astringent)
• Prune plum (usually oval, freestone, sweet, fresh eaten or used to make prunes)
• Greengage (firm, green flesh and skin even when ripe)
• Mirabelle (dark yellow, predominantly grown in northeast France)
• Victoria (yellow flesh with a red or mottled skin)
• Yellowgage or golden plum (similar to greengage, but yellow)

In West Asia, myrobalan plum or cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera) is also widely cultivated. In Russia, apart from these three commonly cultivated species, there are also many cultivars resulting from hybridization between Japanese plum and myrobalan plum, known as Russian plum (Prunus × rossica).{{Cite journal|last=Eremin|first=G.V.|date=2006|title=Prunus rossica (Rosaceae), a new hybridogenous species|url=https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=9274159|journal=Botanicheskii Zhurnal|volume=91|issue=9|pages=1405–1410}}

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.{{Cite web |title= |url=http://www.bioed.org/ECOS/inquiries/inquiries/PhenologyofFlowers.pdf |access-date=2024-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212003/http://www.bioed.org/ECOS/inquiries/inquiries/PhenologyofFlowers.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-03 }}

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.Skinner (1984), Chinery (2007), and see references in Savela (2002)

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, called in Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin or Serbian šljivovica).{{cite journal|title=Aroma Constituents of Plum Brandy|author=Crowell and Guymon|journal=American Journal of Enology|year= 1973|volume= 24|number=4|pages=159–165}}{{cite journal|title=The neutral volatile components of Czechoslovak plum brandy|author1=Jan Velíšek |author2=František Pudil |author3=Jiří Davídek |author4=Vladislav Kubelka |journal=Zeitschrift für Lebensmittel-Untersuchung und -Forschung A|volume= 174|number= 6|year=1982|pages= 463–466|doi= 10.1007/BF01042726|s2cid=88247885 }} 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.[https://observator.tv/social/romanii-cei-mai-mari-producatori-de-prune-din-europa-insa-recolta-nu-ajunge-in-borcanele-cu-magiun-ci-in-cazanele-de-tuica-233725.html România e cel mai mare producător de prune din UE. Cele mai multe fructe folosesc la ţuică și palincă]

As with many other members of the rose family, plum kernels contain cyanogenic glycosides, including amygdalin.{{cite book|author1=Burrows, G.E. |author2=Tyrl, R.J. |date=2012 |title= Toxic Plants of North America |chapter= Rosaceae Juss. |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |pages= 1064–1094}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/plum/|title=Plum|work=The Wood Database|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025221826/http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/plum/|archive-date=2014-10-25}}

In 2019, global production of plums (data combined with sloes) was 12.6 million tonnes, led by China with 56% of the world total (table). Romania and Serbia were secondary producers.

Raw plums are 87% water, 11% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and less than 1% fat (table). In a {{convert|100|g|oz|frac=2|abbr=off|adj=on}} reference serving, raw plums supply {{convert|192|kJ|kcal|abbr=off}} of food energy and are a moderate source only of vitamin C (12% Daily Value), with no other micronutrients in significant content (table).

{{main|Prunus subg. Prunus}}

The numerous species of Prunus subg. Prunus are classified into many sections, but not all of them are called plums. Plums include species of sect. Prunus and sect. Prunocerasus,{{Cite journal|last1=Shi|first1=Shuo|last2=Li|first2=Jinlu|last3=Sun|first3=Jiahui|last4=Yu|first4=Jing|last5=Zhou|first5=Shiliang|date=2013|title=Phylogeny and classification of Prunus sensu lato (Rosaceae)|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jipb.12095|journal=Journal of Integrative Plant Biology|language=en|volume=55|issue=11|pages=1069–1079|doi=10.1111/jipb.12095|pmid=23945216|bibcode=2013JIPB...55.1069S |issn=1744-7909|via=|url-access=subscription}} as well as P. mume of sect. Armeniaca. Only two plum species, the hexaploid European plum (Prunus domestica) and the diploid Japanese plum (Prunus salicina and hybrids), are of worldwide commercial significance. The origin of P. domestica 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.{{cite book|author1=Bruce L. Topp|title=Plum (Handbook of Plant Breeding)|author2=Dougal M. Russell|author3=Michael Neumüller|author4=Marco A. Dalbó|author5=Weisheng Liu|chapter=Plum |year=2012|volume=8, part 3|pages=571–621|publisher=Springer |doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-0763-9_15|isbn=9781441907639 }}

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

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

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

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.{{cite web|title=Under-Utilized Tropical Fruits of Thailand (see Part 1, section 3)|publisher=FAO, United Nations|year=2001|url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/ab777e/ab777e00.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715213406/http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/ab777e/ab777e00.htm|archive-date=2011-07-15}} Another example is the loquat, also known as Japanese plum and Japanese medlar, as well as nispero, bibassier and wollmispel elsewhere.{{cite web |url=http://nassau.ifas.ufl.edu/horticulture/fruit/loquat.html|title=Japanese Plum - Loquat|publisher=University of Florida, Nassau County Extension, Horticulture|year=2006 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080723230636/http://nassau.ifas.ufl.edu/horticulture/fruit/loquat.html | archive-date=23 July 2008}}{{cite web|title=Loquat|publisher=University of Purdue|author=J. Morton|year=1987|url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/loquat.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624134930/http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/loquat.html|archive-date=2013-06-24}} 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.{{cite web|title=Jambolan|publisher=Purdue University|year=2006|url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/jambolan.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910032549/http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/jambolan.html|archive-date=2012-09-10}} Jambul is also called as Java plum, Malabar plum, Jaman, Jamun, Jamblang, Jiwat, Salam, Duhat, Koeli, Jambuláo or Koriang.

File:Closeup of blackthorn aka sloe aka prunus spinosa sweden 20050924.jpg|Sloe or blackthorn, Prunus spinosa

File:970718-DriedGoldenPlum-IMG 7527-2.jpg|Dried yellow plums

File:Black Amber Plum DS.jpg|Black Amber Plum (Japanese or Chinese plum)

File:Šljiva Stanley - zreli plodovi (2022).JPG|Stanley plum variety

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Cherry plum
• Fruit tree
• Fruit tree forms
• Fruit tree propagation
• Fruit tree pruning
• List of plum cultivars
• List of plum dishes
• Pluot
• Sugar plum

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Wiktionary pipe|plum#English|plum}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Plums}}
• {{Cookbook-inline|Plum}}

Plum

Plum

Category:Medicinal plants

Category:Laxatives

Category:Drupes