page_title: Damson
section_title: Cultivars
hierarchical_section_title: Damson / Cultivars
caption_attribution_description: English: 1909 illustrations by Alois Lunzer depicting plum cultivars Imperial Gage, Shropshire Damson, Lombard, Maynard and Yellow Egg
context_page_description: The damson or damson plum, also archaically called the "damascene", is an edible drupaceous fruit, a subspecies of the plum tree. Varieties of insititia are found across Europe, but the name damson is derived from and most commonly applied to forms that are native to Great Britain. Damsons are relatively small ovoid plum-like fruit with a distinctive, somewhat astringent taste, and are widely used for culinary purposes, particularly in fruit preserves and jams.
  In South and Southeast Asia, the term damson plum sometimes refers to jamblang, the fruit from a tree in the family Myrtaceae. The name "mountain damson" or "bitter damson" was also formerly applied in Jamaica to the tree Simarouba amara.
context_section_description: Several cultivars have been selected, and some are found in Great Britain, Ireland and the United States. There are still relatively few varieties of damson, with The Garden recording no more than "eight or nine varieties" in existence at the end of the 19th century; some are self-fertile and can reproduce from seed as well as by grafting. The cultivars 'Farleigh Damson' and 'Prune Damson' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
  'Farleigh Damson' (syn. 'Crittenden's Prolific', 'Strood Cluster') is named after the village of East Farleigh in Kent, where it was raised by James Crittenden in the early 19th century. An 1871 letter to the Journal of horticulture and practical gardening claimed that the original seedling had been found by a Mr. Herbert, the tenant of a market garden in Strood, who had given it to Crittenden. It has small, roundish, black fruit, with a blue bloom, and is a very heavy bearer. Its heavy cropping led to it being widely planted in England.
  'Shropshire Prune' (syn. 'Prune Damson', 'Long Damson', 'Damascene', 'Westmoreland Damson', 'Cheshire Damson') is a very old variety; its blue-purple, ovoid fruit has a distinctively "full rich astringent" flavour considered superior to other damsons, and it was thought particularly suitable for canning. Hogg states that this was the variety that became specifically associated with the old name "damascene". The local types often known as the "Westmoreland Damson" and "Cheshire Damson" are described as synonymous with the Shropshire Prune by the horticulturalist Harold Taylor and others. The Shropshire was also the best-known variety of damson in the United States.
  Similar to the Shropshire Prune and possibly part of the same landrace, 'Aylesbury Prune' (syn. 'Bucks Prune', 'Michaelmas Prune') is a semi-wild plum of damson type from the area of Buckinghamshire and Berkshire centred on Ivinghoe. It is relatively large-fruited and was considered by growers to have a high resistance to silver leaf, although was reputed to be poor for canning. Along with the Victoria plum, the Aylesbury Prune was one of the parents of the culinary plum 'Laxton's Cropper'. Although orchards of the Aylesbury Prune are now rare, Aylesbury Vale District Council has made efforts to conserve it.
  'Frogmore' is a cultivar first grown in the 19th century in the Royal Gardens at Frogmore, where it was raised by head gardener Thomas Ingram. It described as having sweet, round-oval, purplish black fruit, which ripen in early September.
  'King of the Damsons' (syn. 'Bradley's King') is a Nottinghamshire late-season variety, making a vigorous and spreading tree with foliage that turns a distinctive yellow in autumn. It was first distributed by Bradley & Sons of Halam in around 1880. The medium to large, obovoid purple fruit is relatively sweet with dryish flesh.
  'Merryweather' is a popular 20th century cultivar, introduced by the firm of Henry Merryweather & Sons of Southwell, Nottinghamshire in 1907. The tree's parentage is unknown; it has leaves well above the size of other damsons, and is thought to have at least some culinary plum ancestry. The fruit is deep blue, large, and noticeably sweet when ripe, although having genuine damson astringency.
  'Early Rivers', registered in 1871, was raised by Rivers' Nursery from a seed of the variety St Etienne, and has roundish fruit with a chalky bloom. The small, red-purple clingstone damsons ripen as early as mid-August: they have very juicy flesh but lack "true damson flavour".
  'Blue Violet' originated in Westmoreland (likely as a hybrid or development of 'Shropshire Prune') and was first sent to the National Fruit Trials in the 1930s. An early variety, fruiting in August, it was long thought to have been lost but a few trees were discovered in the Lake District in 2007.
  'Common Damson' (syn. 'Small Round Damson') was a traditional cultivar with small, black fruit, being probably very close to wild specimens. It had a mealy texture and acid flavour, and by the 1940s it was no longer planted.
  A type of damson once widely grown
caption: Shropshire Damson, shown at centre left. Other plums shown are Imperial Gage (labelled 1), Lombard (3), Maynard (4) and Yellow Egg (5).
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