Narrative
Type = Plum. Per The Plums of New York (see citation): "The fruits are quite too firm of flesh, too sour and too small to be of value for dessert purposes but they are most excellent for jellies, marmalades and preserves - any of the uses to which the Damsons are commonly put. They are, too, best adapted for long-keeping and shipping of any of the native plums...Wayland was found in a plum thicket on the premises of Professor H.B. Wayland, Cadiz, Kentucky. It was sent by him about 1875 to J.S. Downder and Sons, Fairview, Todd County, Kentucky, who named and introduced it. Tree very large and vigorous, spreading, somewhat drooping, flat-topped, open-hardy at Geneva, productive...Leaves folded upward, ovate or long-oval, peach-like, one and seven-eights inches across, five inches long, thin...petiole one inch long, with one to five very small, globose, brownish glands usually on the stalk...Blooming season late and long; flowers white...oetals ovate or oval....Fruit very late, season long; color dark current-red, with inconspicuous, thin bloom; dots numerous, small to medium, conspicuous, densely clustered about the apex; skin thick, tough, clinging but slightly; flesh attractive light yellow; moderately juicy, coarse, fibrous, rather tender, mildly sweet next to the skin but astringent towards the pit fair to good; stone clinging..."