Cherry plum tree named ‘Farmer 8-04’

Latin name of the genus and species claimed: Prunus cerasifera.

Variety denomination: ‘Farmer 8-04’.

This application relates to the discovery and asexual propagation of a new and distinct variety of cherry plum tree, Prunus cerasifera ‘Farmer 8-04’. The new variety ‘Farmer 8-04’ was developed by using wild cherry plums, found at an altitude of 1,100-1,600 m in Daxigou and Xiaoxigou, Huocheng County, Xinjiang, China, as parents. The new variety ‘Farmer 8-04’ resulted from sowing wild cherry plums and natural pollination. The new variety was selected and propagated through seedling breeding, high grafting propagation, and strain comparison experiments by Qiong He, Zhiqiang Bai and Xiaobo Cheng. The new variety ‘Farmer 8-04’ was asexually reproduced in Huocheng County, Yili, Xinjiang, China, by grafting.

The new ‘Farmer 8-04’ is characterized by having a semi-open tree posture, and black colored, soft-textured fruits with yellow colored flesh.

The new variety ‘Farmer 8-04’ has black colored fruit skin compared to the red colored fruit skin for ‘Farmer 6-10’ (U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 18/910,890). Additionally, the new variety ‘Farmer 8-04’ has a semi-open tree posture, compared to the open tree posture of ‘Farmer 6-10’.

The detailed breeding process of ‘Farmer 8-04’ is described as follows:

In 1995, in Huocheng County, Yili, Xinjiang, wild cherry plum seeds were collected for sowing and breeding wild cherry plum live seedlings. After five years of repetitive investigation and comparison from 2002 to 2006, the single plants having stable traits, early fruiting, high productivity, high stress resistance, and good processing performance were screened, and in 2007, the scions of the screened single plants were collected and grafted onto 3-year-old bionic cultivated cherry plum trees through high grafting to obtain ‘Farmer 8-04’.

The accompanying color photographic illustrations were taken in Qingshuihe Town, Huocheng County, Xinjiang during the growing seasons of the cherry plum in 2021 and 2022. The colors are as nearly true as is reasonably possible in a color representation of this type.

FIG. 1 shows the fruits of the new variety ‘Farmer 8-04’.

FIG. 2 shows the black colored fruits of the new variety ‘Farmer 8-04’, compared to the red-colored fruits of ‘Farmer 6-10’.

FIGS. 3 A and 3 B show the flowers of the new variety ‘Farmer 8-04’.

FIG. 4 shows the color of a 3-year-old young shoots of the new variety ‘Farmer 8-04’.

FIG. 5 shows the leaf blades of the new variety ‘Farmer 8-04’.

FIG. 6 is the cross-section view of the fruit of the new variety ‘Farmer 8-04’.

Throughout this specification, color names beginning with a small letter signify that the name of that color as used in common speech is aptly descriptive. Color names beginning with a capital letter designate values based upon “CMYK International Standard Color Chart”, First edition, August 2019. Common color names are also occasionally used.

The descriptive matter which follows pertains to 3-year-old ‘Youchiyao’ trees grown in Qingshuihe Town, Huocheng County, Xinjiang, China, and it is believed to apply to trees of the variety grown under similar conditions of soil and climate elsewhere. The characteristics of ‘Youchiyao’ trees and fruits were observed during the growing season of 2021, continued in 2022. The observed characteristics may vary depending on location and season.

Tree: General: (Measurements taken on three-year-old trees unless otherwise noted and are based on two-year averages).

Vigor .—Weak. Posture .—Semi-open. Shape .—Natural open-center shape. Branching density .—Very dense.

Foliage: Leaf abscission stage: Medium, About October 10 th . Spring shoot: (Data taken in May to June).

Length of young shoot .—Medium, approximately 58.6 cm. Internode length of young shoot .—Short, approximately 1.24 cm. Color of young shoot .—About Reddish Brown. Color of tender leaf .—About Red. Shape of leaf blade .—Elliptic. Length of leaf blade .—Short, approximately 4.8 cm. Area of leaf blade .—Small, approximately 17.2 cm 2 . Color of leaf blade .—About Green. Shape of leaf base .—Wedge-shaped. Shape of leaf apex .—Acuminate. Leaf margin teeth .—Obtusely serrate. Length of petiole .—Medium, approximately 1.4 cm. Depth of petiole .—Medium. Pubescence of lower side of petiole .—Absent. Nectary .—Absent. Length/width ratio of leaf blade .—Small, approximately 1.40. Glossiness of upper side of leaf blade .—Medium. Pubescence of lower side of blade .—Absent.

Autumn shoot: (Data taken in September).

Size area of leaf bud .—Small. Shape of leaf bud .—Short cone. Bear posture of leaf bud .—Adnate. Size of bud support .—Small.

Flowers:

Flower bud on one - year - old shoot .—Present. Arrangement .—Umbel. Fragrance .—Present. Color of petal .—About White C0M0Y0K0.

Initial bloom: (About April 4 th ).

Posture of sepal .—Adnate. Color of sepal .—About Brown Green.

Full bloom: (About April 7 th ).

Diameter of corolla .—Large, approximately 2.04 cm. Shape of petal .—Rounded. Arrangement of petal .—Overlapping. Shape of upper margin of flower .—Smooth and continuous. Position of stigma .—Same level with the anther.

Fruit:

Time of maturation .—About July 20 th . Size .—Very small, approximately 3.8 g. Average transverse diameter .—Approximately 2.09 cm. Average longitudinal diameter .—Approximately 1.97 cm. Fruit base shape .—Flat. Shape .—Rounded. Location of maximum transverse diameter of fruit .—Near middle. Shape at apex .—Rounded and flat. Depth of calyx cavity .—Shallow. Width of calyx cavity .—Narrow. Length of fruit stalk .—Short, approximately 0.97 cm. Base of color of skin .—About Light Yellow. Color of fruit skin .—About Black C30M0Y0K100. Thickness of fruit skin .—Thin. Suture line of fruit .—Shallow. Symmetry of fruit .—Symmetric. Color of flesh of fruit .—About Yellow C30M55Y100K0. Firmness of flesh of fruit .—Soft, approximately 5.73 kg/cm 2 . Juiciness .—Low. Flesh fiber .—Many. Soluble solids content .—High, approximately 16.13%. Fresh - eating quality ( flavor ).—Low.

Fruit use: Market Use (fresh-eating, processing, and ornamental). Stone:

Degree of adherence of stone to flesh .—Adherent. Stone size relative to fruit .—Large, approximately 9.70%. Size .—Small, approximately 0.36 g. Shape .—Oval. Symmetry in ventral view, lateral view by length .—Symmetrical. Symmetry in width by length .—Asymmetrical. Position of widest part of stone .—Near middle. Surface of stone .—Medium, between that of a peach stone and an apricot stone. Width at base of stone .—Broad. State of back of stone .—Cracked, the suture line is obvious.

Heat/cold resistance: the above-ground parts of the plant may suffer frost in temperatures below about 28 degrees Celsius.