Cultivar 405: Golden Prune

Golden Prune is a European plum, placed in Prunus domestica in South Dakota bulletin literature.[S1] Sources describe it as a large yellow plum of good quality, grown both as a prune and as a plum.[S1][S2] One bulletin says it originated at Milwaukee, Oregon, from seed of Italian Prune and credits Seth Lewelling.[S1] A Black Hills grower report instead calls it a native of California.[S2]

In South Dakota sources, Golden Prune appears less as a station tested standard and more as a cultivar known through good local performance.[S1] It was reportedly first tested at Rapid City by Chris Thompson and later by Judge Levi McGee and others.[S1] The station bulletin says it had not been tested at the Station itself but was doing well at Rapid City in the Black Hills. That helps explain why it was recommended only where European plums could be grown.[S1]

The fruit is described simply but favorably as large, yellow, and of good quality.[S1] The surviving sources here do not add much on flesh texture, exact season, or storage. The Black Hills report is clearer on use, treating it as a prune and calling it the only prune the grower had succeeded with.[S2]

Hardiness is the main theme in the available evidence. In the Black Hills report, the trees are called perfectly hardy, and the grower notes that they had set fruit buds.[S2] The later station bulletin is more cautious, saying it appears worthy of trial only in places that can grow European plums.[S1] This places Golden Prune at the hardier end of European plum culture for the region, but not as a universally adapted prairie plum.[S1][S2]

Golden Prune shows how older northern fruit literature preserved useful cultivars through scattered trial notes, grower testimony, and regional bulletins rather than full modern release records.[S1][S2] What survives here is the outline of a once valued prune plum: western in origin, associated with Seth Lewelling, successful in the Black Hills, and remembered for good fruit quality and unusual hardiness for its class.[S1][S2]

Summary source basis

• S1: Plums in South Dakota
• S2: Fruit Culture

This summary currently draws chiefly from Plums in South Dakota, with 1 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“First tested at Rapid City by Chris Thompson and later by Judge Levi McGee and others.”
— ^[1]

“Originated at Milwaukee, Oregon, from seed of Italian Prune.”
— ^[1]

“Described as a native of California.”
— ^[2]

“Of good quality.”
— ^[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

• Golden Prune, domestica.Plums in South Dakota, p19
• Golden Prune, domestica.Plums in South Dakota, p19
• Golden Prune, domestica.Plums in South Dakota, p19
• Golden Prune, domestica.Plums in South Dakota, p19

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context