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Plum, fruit of the genus Prunus of the rose family (Rosaceae). Like the peach and cherry, it is a stone, or drupe, fruit. Trees of some plum species reach a height from 6—10 metres (20—33 feet), while others are much smaller; some species are small shrubs with drooping branches. The flower buds on most varieties are borne on short spurs or along the terminal shoots of the main branches. Each bud may contain from one to five flowers, two or three being most common; where the buds are close together, they give an appearance of densely packed, showy flower clusters when the trees are in full bloom. The individual flower is made up of a receptacle forming a hollow cup bearing sepals, petals, and stamens on the outer rim, surrounding a single pistil attached at the bottom of the cup. After fertilization, the receptacle and attachments fall off, and the style withers and drops off, leaving the enlarged basal portion of the pistil, the ovary, which develops into the fruit.
As the fruit grows, the outer part of the ovary ripens into a fleshy, juicy exterior making up the edible part of the fruit and a hard interior called the stone, or pit. The seed is enclosed within the stone. The fruits show a wide range of size, flavour, colour, and texture.
The common European plum (Prunus domestica) probably originated in the region around the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. According to the earliest writings in which the plum is mentioned, the species is at least 2,000 years old. Another Old World plum species, probably of European or Asiatic origin, is the Damson plum (Prunus institia). Ancient writings connect early cultivation of these plums with the region around Damascus.
It is not known just when European plums were introduced into North America, but pits were probably brought over by the first colonists.
In the U.S. and Europe, the plum has long been recognized as one of the most delicious of fruits; among the stone fruits, it ranks next to the peach in commercial production. Many varieties cultivated in the U.S. have been introduced from elsewhere; when these are added to the native varieties, they give plums the largest number of kinds and species among the stone fruits. Different varieties are adapted to a wide range of soils and climatic conditions. Plums respond to good soil-management practices. As trees come into bearing, they do not require much pruning and in the home fruit garden can be grown satisfactorily if diseases and pests are controlled.
Plums are the most widely distributed of the stone fruits. The fruit is grown over a wide region in Europe, from Italy on the south to Norway and Sweden on the north. Yugoslavia is the leading country, with a tree potential of more than 1,000,000 tons production. A liqueur called 1jivovica made from plums is an important article of commerce in Yugoslavia. Germany is the next-largest producer of plums in Europe, with a tree potential that in some years has equalled that of the U.S. in production. Turkey and Japan are leading countries in plum production in Asia, In the U.S., many plums are made into prunes by drying in dehydrators or in the sun. The prune has the advantage of keeping far longer than a fresh plum.
