Cultivar 392: Clingstone Wolf

Clingstone Wolf is an Americana plum described as the clingstone form long circulated under the name Wolf.[S1] South Dakota station notes say growers eventually recognized that nursery stock sold as Wolf included two distinct varieties: the true Wolf, which is freestone, and a second plum provisionally separated as Clingstone Wolf.[S1] That naming confusion is central to its identity and to how it was remembered.[S1]

The surviving description is practical rather than genealogical. No parentage, breeder, or release history is given here. The bulletin places it among Americana plums grown and judged in the northern plains.[S1] A 1904 Minnesota State Horticultural Society recommendation list mentioned only "Wolf (freestone)," showing that Clingstone Wolf was already being treated as distinct from the preferred Wolf by that date.[S1]

A. Norby described Clingstone Wolf as darker than Freestone Wolf, with large fruit.[S1] He called it a good variety and a good market plum. He said it keeps and carries well and is more exempt from insect injury than most other kinds.[S1] He also described it as exceptionally free from insect injuries or fungus diseases.[S1] Its weak point was quality. Norby rated it only medium and later said it lacks quality.[S1]

Productivity appears respectable but not outstanding. Norby called it moderately productive, but also said it was not as heavy a bearer as Stoddard.[S1] The bulletin gives no fuller tree description, ripening season, or hardiness rating. Its inclusion in a South Dakota bulletin and comparison with other northern plains plums place it in that regional growing context.[S1]

Clingstone Wolf matters less as a celebrated dessert plum than as evidence of how nursery propagation and regional evaluation could split one well known name into two different fruits.[S1] The historical record preserves a marketable, durable, darker fruited Americana plum that was useful enough to be noticed, yet distinct enough in stone type and quality to require its own corrective name.[S1]

Summary source basis

• S1: Plums in South Dakota

This summary currently draws chiefly from Plums in South Dakota.

Featured source descriptions

“Plum growers found that under propagation in commercial nurseries there were two distinct varieties under the name Wolf; the true Wolf is a freestone and the spurious Wolf is provisionally called Clingstone Wolf.”
— ^[1]

“A. Norby reported the fruit runs large and is more exempt from insect injuries than most other kinds.”
— ^[1]

“A. Norby rated it as only medium quality and later said it lacks quality.”
— ^[1]

“A. Norby wrote that it was not as heavy a bearer as Stoddard.”
— ^[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

• Clingstone Wolf, Americana.Plums in South Dakota, p14
• Clingstone Wolf, Americana.Plums in South Dakota, p14
• Clingstone Wolf, Americana.Plums in South Dakota, p14
• Clingstone Wolf, Americana.Plums in South Dakota, p14

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context