Tree identification PLZ (photos)!

[kotoreru]

Hello all,

Hopefully someone will be able to tell me just what the biggest tree in my back garden is from these photos I just took! I'm ashamed to say that I havent noticed, in the 20 years I've lived here, that the tree grows some sort of fruit!









As you can see, the fruits look like plums and have quite a substantial 'dusty' covering which I assume is yeast like that which grows on grapes.

I hope someone can shed some light on this, but let me know if any particular photos are required for a positive ID!

Many thanks

[kotoreru]

Well just an update, for those who may have shown an interest but been unable to help me out:

I'm fairly sure it's a plum tree, as the fruit has a groove down the side which, apparently, is characteristic of plums.

Now I'm just a bit stuck on the species. Logic would dictate that this should be an Old World species, this being the UK. However the photos I've found of all relevant species just don't seem to match up to my liking. The only one that does is the New World species Prunus maritimus, but even this should have sharply serrated leaves, my tree having more rounded leaves.

It would be quite nice to nail the species down as apparently the fruit is not edible from certain species, and I wouldnt want to take the risk

[kotoreru]

It's a Damson tree! Prunus domestica var. insititia. For those of you wondering

[ivygirl_5]

You are very lucky to have such a lovely Damson tree in your backyard. Damsons make excellent preserves and jams. Damson preserves with homemade pound cake was always my favorite desert growing up.

[kotoreru]

Well the fruit is at its ripest right now, so I may make some jams and wines!

[MrMistery]

Careful.. Plum wine contains very much alcohol(up to 50-60% actually)

[canalon]

Careful.. Plum wine contains very much alcohol(up to 50-60% actually)

NO. Fermentation will not yield more than 13 or 14% in general. Because higher concentrations are toxic for the yeast. If you want to go over, you need to distill your plum wine. And then you can easily go to 90% alcohol. But most distilled products contains "only" 50% to 60% because of the additions of a fractions of the (flavorful) heads and tails to the final product. Then many commercial products are rectified to around 40% by addition of water.

[kotoreru]

I actually knew that, which is reassuring lol

[MrMistery]

I didn't. All i know is my grandpa makes the stuff that is so strong i can't even drink half a glass.

[kotoreru]

He does that on purpose, no doubt - like so many other elderly folk. Bless.