A French semi-sour cherry named after the empress consort of Napoleon III, Eugénie de Montijo, the variety was a novelty fruit of the 1870s in the United States (after Napoleon III was deposed in 1870). A member of the Duke category (a cross of sweet and sour varieties), it was among the earliest varieties to ripen. Pomologists noted that the Empress Eugenie did not do as well in America as in Europe. Several liabilities ultimately argued against wide adoption: irregularity of the size and shape of the cherries, a tendency for fruit on different parts of a tree to ripen at different times, and the small compass of the tree itself, limiting its total productivity. [U. P. Hedrick, The Cherries of New York, 137] Countering these liabilities were its splendid taste and early maturation. Southern nurseries, such as Van Lindley’s in Pomono, North Carolina, promoted it as a yard tree for home use rather than as a market producer. Its dark red speckled skin protected a pale red flesh that melted into pinkish juice when eaten from the hand. The texture was meaty, yet tender; the taste was tart, pleasant, and refreshing. Though interest in the variety lapsed in the United States during the twentieth century, it is retained in European germ plasm repositories; the ECPGR holdings are in Great Britain: http://www.bordeaux.inra.fr/eucherrydb/accession/5477 .

"Tree rather dwarf in habit, very productive; fruit large, dark red; flesh tender, juicy, rich, sub-acid; very good. Early in June." Davis Brother's Silver Leaf Nursery Catalog, Boone's Path, VA 1897.   

Nurseries that offered Empress Eugenie prio to 1920:

Alabama Nursery, Huntsville, AL 1900.  Fruitlands, Augusta, GA 1885-1899. Kentucky Nursery, Louisville, KY 1897. Silver Leaf Nursery, Boone's Path, VA 1888. Van Lindley, Pomona, NC 1899-1909.

Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705, Deborah Passmore, 1897.

David S. Shields