Origin: in Willard, N.C., by C.F. Williams, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Crops Res. Div. and the North Carolina Agr. Expt. Sta. and introduced in 1962 jointly with J.P. Overcash, Mississippi Agr. Expt. Sta., State College, Miss. Himalaya × Taylor; cross made in 1935; seedlings grown at Willard and selected in 1939; tested in North Carolina and Mississippi as NC 436. Tree: semierect; very vigorous; long lateral canes thorny, similar to Himalaya; new primary canes often 8-10 ft long by mid-June; resistant to most cane and leaf diseases; very productive when trained on wire trellis or stakes at Raleigh, N.C., or grown in hedgerows at State College, Miss.; yields at Raleigh averaged 5.3 quarts/plant compared to 3.1 quarts for Brainerd; propagated by tip-layering and by softwood cuttings rooted under mist. Cultivar released as a home garden and local-market berry. Fruit: size medium, maintaining good size during the picking season; skin glossy black; flesh medium firm; flavor acid, dessert quality good; ripens in late June in North Carolina and Mississippi, after Boysen, Carolina, and Lucretia but before Flint.
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