'Climax' is a ''

Prunus ''Prunus'' is a genus of trees and shrubs, which includes (among many others) the fruits plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds. Native to the North American temperate regions, the neotropics of South America, and the p ...

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

, considered to be a plum. It was introduced in 1899 by plant breeder

Luther Burbank Luther Burbank (March 7, 1849 – April 11, 1926) was an American botanist, horticulturist and pioneer in agricultural science. He developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants over his 55-year career. Burbank's varied creations incl ...

. Burbank devoted a lot of work to hybridizing two plum species, the apricot plum or Simon plum ''

Prunus simonii ''Prunus simonii'', called apricot plum and Simon plum, is a tree in the genus ''Prunus''. It was first described by Elie-Abel Carrière in 1872 and is native to Hebei, Hebei province, China. The species is not known in a truly wild state. It has ...

'' and the Japanese plum ''

Prunus salicina ''Prunus salicina'' ( syn. ''Prunus triflora'' or ''Prunus thibetica''), commonly called the Japanese plum or Chinese plum, is a small deciduous tree native to China. It is now also grown in fruit orchards in Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Israel, the U ...

''. He developed a number of cultivars from the hybrid, of which 'Climax' was particularly notable for its importance to the fruit shipping industry of California. page 222

Description

The 'Climax' tree is less productive than some other plum cultivars. The fruit is extremely large and heart-shaped, with yellow flesh that is sweet and very juicy. The flesh clings to the stone. The skin is dark red with yellow spots, and somewhat unpleasant in flavour, but peels away easily from the flesh when the fruit is fully ripe.

References

External links

{{Hybrid Prunus Plum cultigens