On 14th August Sacha wrote:

We had some people in today who live in France and they were looking for
Damsons which they say seem to be unknown there (Paris and Corsica) This
got us onto what is the difference between a Damson and a Plum because both
are Prunus and probably domestica? I understand that damsons tend to make
smaller trees but if anyone can explain in terms of flavour or use,
enquiring minds would be really grateful. ;-)

Sorry I missed this first time round.

I'm writing from Normandy at the moment and when I bought this house
eighteen years ago it came with several plum trees of two varieties. One
of the varieties is definitely a damson but when I asked my neighbour
what he called it he unhelpfully replied "prune"!

So the damson is known here but the French appear to refer to it simply
as a variety of plum. Having looked it up in Collins-Robert it is
slightly more helpful, calling it a "prune de damas" (a Damascus plum -
damson would appear to be a corruption of this).

Yes, I suppose my damson trees are somewhat smaller than the plum trees
with finer branches. Every year my plum trees fruit prolifically. This
year, not one! We had early frosts here in the Suisse Normande.

David

--
David Rance
writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France