Cultivar 159: Opata

Opata is an early South Dakota cherry plum, a sand cherry hybrid selected for fruit larger and better than ordinary sand cherries. Most sources describe it as a cross of sand cherry, usually Dakota sand cherry or Prunus besseyi, with Gold plum, and place its introduction in 1908 at the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station in Brookings. [S3] [S4] [S7] [S9] Hansen later treated it as one of the notable hardy hybrids he originated and introduced, and several sources describe it as one of the most widely grown or most popular of that group. [S1] [S5] [S6]

The fruit is usually described as small to medium, about 2.5 to 3 cm or roughly 1 to 1 1/4 inches across, round to oval, greenish or yellow green under dark reddish purple to red purple skin with a thin bloom. [S3] [S9] [S10] The flesh is green to yellow green, firm at first but softens soon after picking, with a very small pit. [S3] [S9] [S10] Sources consistently describe the flavor as pleasant, sweet, with enough acid to keep it lively, and better than common sand cherry fruit. [S9] [S10] Hansen praised it for fresh eating and kitchen use, while later prairie sources especially note it for preserves and rate its dessert quality as good to medium good. [S3] [S7] [S9] [S10]

Opata is early in season. South Dakota field notes place it in mid August, and later prairie references usually place it in late August or the latter half of August. [S3] [S7] [S9] A 1909 note says it was fully ripe while Manitoba No. 1 was still not ready to eat, which helps explain why it stood out in short season districts. [S7] Hansen also described it as extremely early. [S7]

The plant is repeatedly described as vigorous, productive, and precocious. It forms fruit buds freely on one year wood, and one year nursery trees were said to bear the year after planting. [S1] [S2] [S7] [S8] Although Opata can look tree like, Hansen and later prairie guidance both recommend growing these sand cherry hybrids in bush form with several stems, because fruit is borne best on young wood and too much trunking up removes bearing wood. [S1] [S8] Prairie orchard notes describe the tree as spreading, vigorous for a sand cherry hybrid, and somewhat hardier than Sapa. [S9]

Its cold climate record is mixed but clearly northern. Opata was recommended for all zones in one South Dakota home fruit table and for both more favorable and less favorable prairie zones in a later Prairie Provinces guide. [S2] [S3] Yet Saskatchewan material also says none of the older cherry plum hybrids were extremely hardy, advises them mainly for protected sites in zones 3B and 4, and reports considerable injury to Opata in zone 5, though it was relatively free of injury at the University of Saskatchewan in zone 4. [S10] In the broader breeding story, Opata mattered because it showed how quickly sand cherry could be improved by crossing with larger plums. Hansen used it as a leading example of that work, later sources called it the best representative of the sand cherry x Gold plum group, and the name was glossed as the Sioux word for "bouquet." [S6] [S7] [S8]

Summary source basis

• S1: New Hardy Fruits for the Northwest
• S2: South Dakota Fruit Garden
• S3: Tree fruit production for the Prairie Provinces
• S4: An index of fruit cultivars tested or developed on the Canadian prairies.
• S5: Northern Plant Novelties for 1944
• S6: New Hybrid Fruits
• S7: Some New Fruits
• S8: Plant Introductions

This summary currently draws chiefly from Some New Fruits, with 12 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“Opata is the most popular of the green-fleshed hybrids.”
— ^[6]

“Usually comes into bearing the year after transplanting, practically as early as berries.”
— ^[7]

“Included in the discussion of quick-bearing fruits suitable for family needs on limited ground.”
— ^[7]

“Listed under cherry plums for more favorable zones.”
— ^[8]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• Sand cherry x Gold plum.
• Listed as P. besseyi 'Dakota' x 'Gold'.
• Opata is one of the varieties resulting from the sand cherry x Gold plum pollen cross.
• Opata is named among the best seedlings of the Dakota sand cherry x Japanese plum pollen pedigree.
• Opata is also named as one of three varieties sent out from the sand cherry x Gold plum pollen cross.
• Pedigree: Sand Cherry X Gold Plum pollen.
• Opata is presented under Sand Cherry x Gold Plum Pollen.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• My sand cherry hybrids, such as Opata, Sapa, Sansoto, Ochesoto, and Wachampa should be kept in bush form with many stems close to the ground.Northern novelties for 1921 : some new fruits, ornamentals, etc., p3
• My sand cherry hybrids, such as Opata, Sapa, Sansoto, Ochesoto, and Wachampa should be kept in bush form with many stems close to the ground.Northern novelties for 1921 : some new fruits, ornamentals, etc., p3
• My sand cherry hybrids, such as Opata, Sapa, Sansoto, Ochesoto, and Wachampa should be kept in bush form with many stems close to the ground.Northern novelties for 1921 : some new fruits, ornamentals, etc., p3
• My sand cherry hybrids, such as Opata, Sapa, Sansoto, Ochesoto, and Wachampa should be kept in bush form with many stems close to the ground.Northern novelties for 1921 : some new fruits, ornamentals, etc., p3

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context