North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["MARIE ASHTON" <bwoodtx@verizon.net>]

The is only one variety of Prunus spinosa I believe; although there is one 
double flowering subspecies - Prunus spinosa flore-pleno and a less thorny 
subspecies Prunus spinosa purpurea.  There are a few crosses with Prunus 
spinosa x Prunus insititia particularly crosses with the bullace group of 
Prunus insititia. I do not believe that any of these crosses or subspecies 
are available in the United States but in England there should be some 
available.

I presume that you are aware that the fruit, called berries by some, are 
small; it normally takes 200 berries to weight a pound. The trees are very 
thorny (long thorns) and have been used to make "living fences" that 
livestock cannot penetrate.

In England the trees are more commonly referred too as Blackthorns. See: 
http://www.the-tree.org.uk/BritishTrees/blackthorn.htm#Other%20species .

Regards,
Richard Ashton
Oak Creek Orchard
www.oakcreekorchard.com
bwoodtx@verizon.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Spidra Webster" <spidra@speakeasy.net>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 1:11 AM
Subject: [NAFEX] Sloe Cultivars?


> I've been enjoying a number of British podcasts and blogs and many of
> them have talked about sloes and homemade sloe gin.  Which has fired
> my desire to add Prunus spinosa to my edible landscape.  However, not
> only have I only found one US nursery selling it (so far), my quick
> Googling hasn't turned up any information about improved cultivars.
> Are there none?  If so, is that because it comes true from seed or is
> it because sloes are "good enough" for sloe gin and haven't needed
> any improvement?  I just want to know what's out there before I pull
> the trigger and make an impulse purchase.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Megan Lynch
>
> Berkeley, CA
> Zone 9b
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