On 15/8/08 10:15, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
Sacha writes:
|
| Perhaps good old Prunus are best left alone, after all. I really cannot be
| doing with these tiresome people who can spend 3 hours arguing about the
| length of stamens in order to support their theory that a plant belongs to
| one genus or another altogether!

Yeah. If P. spinosa is a chromosome doubled hybrid of P. cerasifera
and Microcerasus microcarpa, then there is no reason why it shouldn't
be transferred to the latter genus. Of course, many authorities
regard Microcerasus as merely a section inside Prunus, which makes
things a lot easier.

AFAICS the salient differences are that damsons are smaller and more tart,
which is why they're more often used in cooking.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon