Cultivar 386: Burbank

Burbank is a Japanese plum, listed as Prunus salicina and placed in the triflora group in northern experiment station records. [S1] [S2] In these South Dakota sources, it appears less as an established orchard plum and more as a test of how far Japanese plum blood could be carried into a colder prairie climate. [S2] [S3]

At Brookings, South Dakota, Burbank was top grafted in spring 1894 onto bearing age native plum stock. It made strong growth and later bore a few fruits. [S3] A later station record says the only fruiting wood came from a few branches top worked on De Soto in the old station orchard, with bearing noted in 1898. [S2] Together, these reports show the same pattern: Burbank could be kept alive and brought to fruit only by top working onto hardy established stock, not as a durable stand alone tree under local conditions. [S2] [S3]

The packet does not preserve a full fruit description for Burbank itself. What remains is a performance record. It fruited only lightly, with only a few specimens reported, and both South Dakota sources focus on survival, bearing ability, and experimental value rather than flavor or market quality. [S2] [S3]

The hardiness evidence is weak for the severe northern plains. South Dakota station authors wrote that several Japanese plums were tested there, but Burbank was the only one that lived long enough to bear, and even those fruiting branches were killed by the next hard winter. [S2] An earlier Brookings account is more direct, stating that there was no hope of raising Burbank or other Japanese plums commercially there, though the pollen might still be useful in crossing work with native plums and sand cherry. [S3]

That makes Burbank important in this archive not as a proven prairie plum, but as part of breeding and testing history. The University of Minnesota bulletin preserves it in an appendix of parent cultivars used in Prunus breeding, identified simply as P. salicina. [S1] In the South Dakota record, it sits at the edge of adaptation: vigorous when top grafted, able to fruit briefly, but not hardy enough to persist through repeated hard winters. [S2] [S3]

Summary source basis

• S1: 9c684c14 7509 4b78 a803 0bf01a64aa28
• S2: Plums in South Dakota
• S3: Fruit Culture

This summary currently draws chiefly from Plums in South Dakota, with 2 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“The branches that fruited were killed by the succeeding hard winter.”
— ^[1]

“Other Japanese varieties tested were winter-killed before fruiting.”
— ^[1]

“Bore a few specimens the past season.”
— ^[4]

“Among several Japanese varieties tested at the station, Burbank was the only one that lived long enough to bear fruit.”
— ^[1]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• No direct breeding_cross claim text yet.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• Burbank, triflora. Several Japanese varieties of plums have been tested at this Station, but the Burbank is the only one attaining age sufficient to bear fruit.Plums in South Dakota, p12
• Burbank, triflora. Several Japanese varieties of plums have been tested at this Station, but the Burbank is the only one attaining age sufficient to bear fruit.Plums in South Dakota, p12
• Burbank, triflora. Several Japanese varieties of plums have been tested at this Station, but the Burbank is the only one attaining age sufficient to bear fruit.Plums in South Dakota, p12
• Burbank, triflora. Several Japanese varieties of plums have been tested at this Station, but the Burbank is the only one attaining age sufficient to bear fruit.Plums in South Dakota, p12

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context