White Imperatrice Plum - Botanical poster 50x70cm

Prunus duracina - White Empress Plum

This white plum long caused confusion at the Jardin des Plantes, where it was mistakenly distributed under the name "Hyacinth Plum," even though the latter is purple. A misunderstanding that illustrates the importance of rigorous nomenclature in pomology.

The White Empress has a pale green skin that yellows at maturity, marked with uneven red spots that turn bluish-purple under the bloom. Pierre-Antoine Poiteau notes that these singular markings, absent from previous literature, appeared every year on the fruits at the Museum, a living testament to the variability of cultivars.

This modestly sized plum tree forms a rounded, branched crown. Its pubescent buds, sometimes tinged with purple, bear small, well-swollen eyes, often grouped in threes.

The elliptical, tender green leaves have uneven rounded teeth and a petiole with two brown glands.

The immaculate white flowers, 23 millimeters wide, bloom in twos or threes on short, downy peduncles.

The oval fruit, 41 millimeters long, conceals under its thick skin a crisp, slightly fibrous and tart yellow flesh, but generously juicy, sweet and tangy. Its small oblong pit adheres only weakly to the pulp.

Ripening at the end of August, this excellent plum, with its hint of astringency that gives it all its character, is reminiscent of the famous Perdrigons in quality.

This plate is extracted from Pierre-Antoine Poiteau and Pierre Jean François Turpin's Traité des Arbres Fruitiers, a botanical encyclopedia published between 1807 and 1835, 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 botanical illustration.

Printing, support, shipping

• Each poster is printed using 12-color giclée printing, the benchmark for art workshops for rendering fine tones, subtle gradients, and the most delicate botanical details.
• 200 gsm paper, soft matte finish, 0.26 mm thickness: a rendering close to the original engraving, sharp, glare-free, designed for hanging.
• Printed on FSC certified paper, individually printed to order.
• Shipped in a rigid protective tube.