Factsheet F48: Plumcots

Hybrids between plums (Prunus cerasifera and P.salicina) and apricots (P.armeniaca) are referred to as plumcots.
Natural plumcots have a long history in regions of the world where both apricots and myrobalan or cherry plums (Prunus cerasifera) are traditionally grown, such as southwest Asia. Most of these plumcots have red or purple fruit with light fuzz, although some are smooth and glabrous. The fruits tend to be small and acidic. They were first described by Europeans in 1755, being called the ‘violet apricot’. These plumcots were common enough to be assigned their own species name, P. X dasycarpa in 1791. Red skinned cultivars ‘Grossa Precoce’ and ‘Pruna Cresammola’ are still grown in Italy, whilst several cultivars made it to the USA, including ‘Irani Olju’, ‘Tlor Csiran’, ‘Mesch Mesch Amrah’ and ‘Mirocais’.