Note 136 — Chapter I · EDIBLE PLUMS (continued 3)

“The third was known among the later colonists as the Indian cherry and was the product of a tree hardly exceeded by the English peach tree in girth and height, and showing an inclination for the soil of the valleys of the rivers, and of the narrow bottoms of the smaller streams. This variety was considered to be of extraordinary excellence in flavor; when ripe it was colored a dark purple, and there was only a single cherry to the stalk. There were two varieties of plums, resembling, both in size and taste, the English Damson.” Bruce, Philip Alexander Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century 1:94. 1896.