American plum

Prunus americana

''Prunus americana'', commonly called the American plum, wild plum, or Marshall's large yellow sweet plum, is a species of ''Prunus'' native to North America from Saskatchewan and Idaho south to New Mexico and east to Québec, Maine and Florida.

''Prunus americana'' has often been planted outside its native range and sometimes escapes cultivation. It is commonly confused with the Canada plum , although the fruit is smaller and rounder and bright red as opposed to yellow. Many cultivated varieties have been derived from this species. It forms an excellent stock upon which to graft the domestic plum.
Prunus americana (American Plum) Prunus americana (American Plum) ripe fruit from a massive thicket that borders my vegetable garden on two sides. The shrubs have been here since before 1970 and produce abundant fruit almost every year with little care other than to remove the occasional dead branches and stems. American Plum,Geotagged,Prunus americana,Summer,United States,plums,ripe fruit

Appearance

The American plum grows as a large shrub or small tree, reaching up to 15 feet . It is adapted to coarse- and medium-textured soils, but not to fine soils. The shrub is winter-hardy, but has little tolerance for shade, drought, or fire. Its growth is most active in spring and summer, and it blooms in midspring. It propagates by seed, but the rate of spread by seed is slow.

The roots are shallow, widely spread, and send up suckers. The numerous stems per plant become scaly with age. The tree has a broad crown. The branches are thorny. The leaves are alternately arranged, with an oval shape. The leaf length is usually 2–4 in long. The upper surface of the leaf is dark green and under side is smooth and pale. The small white flowers with five petals occur singly or in clusters in the leaf axils. The globular fruits are about 1 in in diameter.

Uses

The American plum is used for both ornamental and culinary purposes. The white flowers are decorative in spring and its short, single leader makes it a popular residential landscape tree. Sargent says of it: "As an ornamental plant ''P. americana'' has real value; the long wand-like branches form a wide, graceful head which is handsome in winter and in spring is covered with masses of pure white flowers followed by ample bright foliage and abundant showy fruit." More than 200 forms of American plum have been grown for cultivation. The sour and sweet fruit is eaten fresh and is processed as preserves, jellies, jam and wine.

Farms use medium to tall shrubs or trees for windbreaks, and highway or riverside plantings. Its high density of growth effectively reduces the wind velocity near the ground. Development of suckers from the root system makes American plum effective in stabilizing stream banks and gullies. It will tolerate several days of flooding. Some commercial properties plant the trees along the entrance road.

Many birds and animals eat the fruit, and both white-tailed deer and mule deer feed on twigs and leaves.

Traditionally, American plum was extensively used by Native Americans. Eastern Native Americans planted many trees giving many places the name of Crab Orchard.

The Cheyenne ate the plums, and used branches for the Sun Dance. The Navajo used the roots to make a red dye.

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Taxonomy
KingdomPlantae
DivisionAngiosperms
ClassEudicots
OrderRosales
FamilyRosaceae
GenusPrunus
SpeciesP. americana
Photographed in
United States of America