Cultivar 447: Prunus Nigra Yellow

Prunus Nigra Yellow is a yellow-fruited plum listed under Prunus nigra in a South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station evaluation. The station received it from C. W. H. Heideman of Minnesota and planted it in spring 1900. The tree is described as vigorous and open in growth, which suggests a strong, somewhat spreading habit rather than a dense canopy. [S1]

The surviving record is brief and practical. It does not name a breeder, give parentage, or explain why the selection was distributed. It does show that the cultivar had moved from Minnesota into South Dakota trial plantings by 1900. The bulletin records fruit ripening on August 26 in 1902 and August 30 in 1904, placing it in the late August season under those conditions. [S1]

The fruit is described simply as yellow and of fair quality. The main limitation noted by the station was size. The plums were judged too small to have commercial value. In 1904 the crop was also light, so the small fruit and limited production counted against it as a market sort. [S1]

This entry gives no direct hardiness statement. Its documented performance comes from station planting and fruiting records in South Dakota, but the source does not say whether it was considered reliably hardy there over the long term. [S1]

Within the broader plum record, Prunus Nigra Yellow appears as one of the Prunus nigra types being tested alongside Americana plums and related hybrids. Its value in the archive is less as a celebrated commercial cultivar than as evidence of northern plum material being circulated, planted, and judged in prairie and upper Midwest conditions at the turn of the twentieth century. [S1]

Summary source basis

• S1: Plums in South Dakota

This summary currently draws chiefly from Plums in South Dakota.

Featured source descriptions

“Received from C. W. H. Heideman, Minnesota, planted in the spring of 1900.”
— ^[1]

“The fruit ripe August 26, 1902, and August 30, 1904.”
— ^[1]

“Of fair quality.”
— ^[1]

“In 1904 the crop was light.”
— ^[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

• Prunus nigra Yellow. Received from C. W. H. Heideman, Minnesota, planted in the spring of 1900. Atree of vigorous open growth. The fruit ripe August 26, 1902, and August 30, 1904.Plums in South Dakota, p33
• Prunus nigra Yellow. Received from C. W. H. Heideman, Minnesota, planted in the spring of 1900. Atree of vigorous open growth. The fruit ripe August 26, 1902, and August 30, 1904.Plums in South Dakota, p33
• Prunus nigra Yellow. Received from C. W. H. Heideman, Minnesota, planted in the spring of 1900. Atree of vigorous open growth. The fruit ripe August 26, 1902, and August 30, 1904.Plums in South Dakota, p33
• Prunus nigra Yellow. Received from C. W. H. Heideman, Minnesota, planted in the spring of 1900. Atree of vigorous open growth. The fruit ripe August 26, 1902, and August 30, 1904.Plums in South Dakota, p33

Taxonomy context: Genus: Prunus | open genus tree

Related cultivars mentioned in source context