Page 97 - Our Plums - Les Pruniers de chez nous.pdf

Glossary

Acuminate: tapering to a prolonged point. Self-unfruitful or self-sterile: not capable of fertilization
Acute: sharp-pointed but not long-tapering. and producing viable seed after self-pollination;
Apex: the end of the fruit opposite the stem. requires cross-pollination.
Aromatic: fragrant.
Bloom: whitish or bluish-white fine powdery coating, as Sprightly: lively taste.
Spur: a 1- to 3-cm shoot terminated with a flower cluster.
on some leaves and fruits. Spur bearing: fruits are produced on two year old
Blush: a tinge of color.
Brisk: sharp and stimulating. wood and on spurs formed on older wood.
Bud-sport: a heritable mutation or genetic change arising Stone: the hard 'seed' inside a drupe fruit such as a plum or

in a bud and producing a genetically different peach.
shoot. Streaked: with long, narrow marks, smears, or bands of
Cavity: depression situated at the base of the stem.
Chromosome: a specific, highly organized body in color.
the nucleus of the cell that contains DNA. Striped: with relatively long, narrow bands of a different
Clingstone: when the flesh of a fruit sticks to the stone or
seed. color or appearance from the rest of the surface.
Conic: cone-shaped. Subacid: slightly or moderately acid or sour.
Cross-pollination: transfer of pollen from a stamen to the Truncate: ending abruptly, as if cut off.
stigma of a flower on another plant which is not Vigorous: that grows very well.
the same genetically. Washed: covered with a thin layer.
Cultivar: a variety that has originated and persisted under Waxy: covered with wax.
cultivation.
Depressed: pressed down.
Dots: pores which are irregularly distributed over the
surface of the fruit.
Downy: with a covering of soft hairs.
Ellipsoid: with an elliptical outline.
Freestone: when the flesh of a fruit does not stick to the
stone or seed.
Irregular: a horizontal section of a fruit which appears
angular, elliptical.
Mottled: with light and dark areas in an irregular pattern.
Oblique: unequal-sided at the base.
Oblong: longer than wide, with the sides nearly parallel.
Obovate: inversely ovate; in regards to fruit shape, it is the
stem end which is narrow.
Obtuse: blunt.
Ovate: egg-shaped, or like the longitudinal section of an
egg, broadest below the middle, near the stem.
Pollen: dust-like grains produced in the anther.
Pollination: transfer of pollen from the stamen to the
stigma.
Pollinizer: a plant which provides pollen for self-unfruitful
varieties.
Precocious: producing fruit at an early age.
Prune: plum variety with firm flesh and a high sugar
content that can be dried whole without spoiling.
Pubescent: with hairs of any kind.
Regular: a horizontal section of a fruit which appears to be
nearly circular.
Rich: with a full taste.
Rootstock: rooted shoot to which a fruiting cultivar is
grafted to produce a commercially acceptable fruit.
Rot: softening, discoloration, and often disintegration of
succulent plant tissue as a result of fungal or
bacterial infection.
Russet: yellowish brown or reddish brown scar tissue on
the surface of fruit.
Scion: fruiting cultivar that is grafted or budded onto a
rootstock.
Self-fruitful or self-fertile: capable of fertilization and
producing viable seed after self-pollination.
Self-pollination: Transfer of pollen from the stamens to the
stigma of either the same flower, other flowers on
the same plant, or flowers on other plants of the
same clone.

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