Damons? Plums?
On 16th August Nick Maclaren wrote:
David Rance writes:
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| 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).
Well, it IS just a variety of plum! And, yes, that's its origin.
Quite! So is the greengage which the French call Reine Claude!
The French terms that I find a a bit odd are where the same word
is used for two items that are used very differently - groseille
being an example.
They do distinguish between groseille rouge, groseille blanche and
groseille à maquereau (gooseberry). Not the blackcurrant however which
is cassis
| 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.
Sorry, that should have been late frosts!
And I had the most appalling aphids - no fruit :-(
I sympathise.
David
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David Rance
writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France
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