Hatif Plum

Prunus pictorum Poit. et Turp. - Early Monsieur Plum

In the 19th century, distinguishing the Early Monsieur plum from the ordinary Monsieur plum required an expert eye: one had to observe both trees side by side to grasp the nuances separating them.

This early variety, with a more open habit, pubescent and grooved branches, was primarily recognized by its narrower leaves, a less vibrant green, and bordered with large teeth. About two weeks before its ordinary cousin, it offered its fruits in mid-July, a treasure of dry and sandy soils.

The Early Monsieur plum boasts a generous bloom: milky white flowers, 27 millimeters wide, bloom in threes from each bud on short yellowish peduncles.

Its oval fruits, measuring 34 to 41 millimeters, have a dark red skin tinged with blue, covered with an abundant azure bloom that easily detaches when ripe.

The yellowish-green flesh, firm and melting, yields sweet, fragrant, and pleasant juice. The stone separates easily. Poiteau notes that when grown espalier-style, where he recommended planting one or two trees, this beautiful plum ripened even earlier, offering its flavors from the first days of summer.

This plate is taken from Pierre-Antoine Poiteau and Pierre Jean François Turpin's Traité des Arbres Fruitiers (Treatise on Fruit Trees), a botanical encyclopedia published between 1807 and 1835, and a major reference in 19th-century naturalist illustration.

It combines the rigor of scientific drawing with a rare artistic sensibility, characteristic of the great plates from the golden age of illustrated botany.

As an anecdote, this plate was used by Salvador Dali for his series of lithographs 'Flordali, the Fruits' in 1969.