Damson

Not to be confused with Terminalia microcarpa or Chrysophyllum oliviforme.
For other uses, see Damson (disambiguation).

Damson
Ripe damsons
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Prunus
Section: Prunus sect. Prunus
Species:
P. domestica
Subspecies:
P. d. subsp. insititia
Trinomial name
Prunus domestica subsp. insititia

The damson (/ˈdæmzən/) or damson plum (Prunus domestica subsp. insititia, or sometimes Prunus insititia),[1] also archaically called the "damascene",[2] 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.[3] 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.[4] The name "mountain damson" or "bitter damson" was also formerly applied in Jamaica to the tree Simarouba amara.[5]

  1. ^ M. H. Porcher "Sorting Prunus names", in "Multilingual multiscript plant names database, University of Melbourne. Plantnames.unimelb.edu.au. Retrieved on 2012-01-01.
  2. ^ Samuel Johnson equates "damascene" and "damson" and for "damask plum" simply states "see Plum" (A Dictionary of the English Language, 1755, p. 532). Later expanded editions also distinguish between "damascene" and "damson", the latter being described as "smaller and [with] a peculiar bitter or roughness".
  3. ^ Woldring (1998), p. 538
  4. ^ "Jambolan". Purdue University. 2006.
  5. ^ Bowerbank, "The Commercial Quassia, or Bitterwood", The Technologist, II (1862), 251