North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Title: Re: [NAFEX] help ID mystery plum-apricot

In researching plumcots I found mention of a form of Prunus cerasifera that had apricot-like qualities.  What you have seems to fit that.  Which would suggest that the tree you found is an old rootstock that has grown up.  
    On the other hand, one of Luther Burbank's plumcots (the name escapes me) looked somewhat like what you picture.  I was given fruit of it and it had definite apricot character, and had the apricot trait of having unequal halves to the fruit.  I was never able to get scions of it, so I planted the seed.  I have a real mixed bag that includes some pretty decent fruits among the seedlings, but none with the same qualities as the parent.  
    I'd get scions, or even do some chip budding now, if you have a rootstock available.  Odds are good you won't get a seedling that is much like the parent.
-Lon Rombough

> I posted a picture and description on the GardenWeb Edible Landscaping
> Forum (see link below)
> http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/edible/msg07143152676.html
>
> Here is my description
> " What is this fruit? I found a small tree full of these overhanging the
> sidewalk in the Greenlake neighborhood of Seattle. They tasted like
> apricots and were slightly sweet. The skin was smooth and a little
> bitter and a little tangy, no fuzz. The creamy texture of the flesh was
> similar to fresh apricots, and the pit was not joined at all to flesh.
> These were really ripe. Half were on the ground, half still on the tree.
> I am saving the seeds of the handful I grabbed off the ground to grow
> seedlings. I might go back for scionwood. I should have grabbed some
> leaves for an ID. It might have been planted on purpose in the past, but
> it looks like no one is going for the fruit now and it hasn't ever been
> pruned."