glycoside amygdalin, a toxin. Damson gin is made in a similar manner to sloe gin, although less sugar is necessary as the damsons are sweeter than sloes. Insititia varieties similar to damsons are used to make slivovitz, a distilled plum spirit made in Slavic countries. Damson wine was once common in England: a 19th-century reference said that "good damson wine is, perhaps, the nearest approach to good port that we have in England. No currant wine can equal it." References Bibliography External links Plum cultigens Flora of Great Britain Flora of Ireland Plant subspecies Drupes Fruit trees