Neither plums nor apricots were showing particularly well yet at the Berkeley Farmer's Market, but we found some decent samples of their hybrids. We've noticed purple-skinned plumcots and pluots, along with soft orange apriums. There's a boggling array of these mongrels.

First, a quick guide to the mess: "plumcot" is the generic name for a plum-apricot hybrid. "Pluot" is a trademarked name owned by Floyd Zaiger, who's done extensive experiments with stone fruit hybrids. Legally, any fruit labelled as a pluot needs to come from a tree purchased at one particular nursery, but you can imagine how often farmers pay strict attention to those rules. We're not sure if "aprium" is trademarked, but it's another hybrid that's more apricot-like than the others.

After the jump, the messy business of plumcots.

Photos by Melissa Schneider