Bullace
| Bullace | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Bullaces growing wild in a Denbighshire hedgerow | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Rosaceae |
| Genus: | Prunus |
| Subgenus: | Prunus |
| Section: | Prunus |
| Species: | P. domestica |
| Subspecies: | P. domestica subsp. insititia |
| Variety: | P. d. ssp. insititia var. nigra |
| Trinomial name | |
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Prunus domestica subsp. insititia (L.) C.K.Schneid. |
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The bullace is a variety of plum. It bears edible fruit similar to those of the damson, and like the damson is considered to be a strain of the insititia subspecies of Prunus domestica. Although the term has regionally been applied to several different kinds of "wild plum" found in the United Kingdom, it is usually taken to refer to varieties with a spherical shape, as opposed to the oval damsons.
Unlike nearly all damsons, bullaces may be either "white" (i.e. yellow or green) or "black" (i.e. blue or purple) in colour, and ripen up to six weeks later in the year. Though smaller than most damsons, bullaces are much larger than the closely related sloe. Their flavour is usually rather acidic until fully ripe.
The name probably originates from the Old French beloce, meaning "sloe", via Middle English bolas. Wild plums were formerly given the related name "bullies" in parts of Lincolnshire. They were also known as the "bullum-tree" in Cornwall; "bullison" in Wiltshire; "scad" in Sussex; and as the "wild damson" in Yorkshire. The similar word bwlas was used in the Welsh language.
Like other varieties of Prunus domestica, the bullace may have had its origin in hybrids between the sloe (Prunus spinosa) and cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera), though there is also evidence that domestica was solely descended from the latter. Another theory suggests that the bullace developed (or was selected) over time from the sloe, without the involvement of Prunus cerasifera.Prunus insititia is still, however, occasionally regarded as a separate (entirely native) species. It is possible that the bullace is genuinely native to the United Kingdom: the horticulturalist Harold Taylor, in his book The Plums of England, described it as "the only truly English plum", observing that all other hybrid varieties of plum and damson had at least some non-native origins.
Although once cultivated, and familiar to gardeners of the Tudor period, the bullace gradually fell out of favour as newer, larger or sweeter types of damson or plum displaced it, and it hung on at the fringes of cultivation. Its hardiness meant that, like the damson, it was occasionally planted as a windbreak or hedging tree, and until the 20th century was regarded as valuable for providing fruit very late in the year.
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Wikipedia