American Plum
Prunus americana
Click or tap the section titles below to learn more about this species!
CLASSIFICATION: What’s in a name?
Scientific Name: Prunus americana. The species name, americana, refers to where it’s found – North America!
Common Name: American Plum. The common name refers to its native range, being widespread across North America.
Family: Rosaceae (Rose family) Why do you think scientists place it in this family? What similarities do you notice with other flowering plants? Plants in the rose family are a diverse group of herbaceous and woody species, but typically have radially symmetrical flowers with 5 petals, and fruit which are either dry capsules or fleshy berries, drupes or pomes. Familiar members of this family include cherries, plums, apples, pears, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and flowering shrubs like roses, spiraeas and photinias.
IDENTIFICATION: What does it look like?
Average Height: 8-20 feet
Description: A thicket-forming shrub or small tree, with dark gray, flaky bark, dense spiny twigs, and trunks which are often crooked or leaning. Leaves are green on both sides and serrated on the margins, with an elongated tip. The flowers are white and fragrant, with 5 petals and bloom before the leaves unfurl. Later in summer, they become small plums, green ripening to reddish and roughly 1 inch in diameter.
Bloom time: Mar – Apr
Notes: Several other species of plums occur in Virginia, both native and introduced. All can be found in similar habitats. This species is the most common of them across the western two-thirds of Virginia and be distinguished from them by its foliage with an elongate tip and no glands on the leaf teeth, and petals 10 mm or more in length.1
LOCATION: Where is it at home?
Range: Widespread in Virginia. The North American range is very large, from Florida to Ontario and west to Arizona and Montana.2
Geology/Soil: Found in a wide variety of soils, usually moist and fairly well drained.1
Habitat: Most strongly associated with thickets, woodland edges, fencerows, roadsides, borders of prairies and grasslands, and also in alluvial floodplain forests.1
CONNECTIONS: What are its relationships to other plants, animals, and humans?
Flora associations: Found with a wide variety of flora, but often associated with other woody species of mesic, shrubby or early-successional settings, such as spicebush (Lindera benzoin), black cherry (Prunus serotina), American hazelnut (Corylus americana), sassafras (Sassafras albidum), and black walnut (Juglans nigra).
Fauna associations: This species is a very important one for a wide variety of wildlife. The flowers are pollinated by a variety of native solitary bees, including the miner bees (Andrena spp.), cuckoo bees (Nomada spp.), bumblebees (Bombus spp.), and sweat bees (Halictidae).5 The foliage of our native plums serve as a larval host for the coral hairstreak (Satyrium titus).4 The fruit are eaten by a wide variety of mammal and bird species, and were likely more widely distributed in the past by now-extirpated species of megafauna.
Human associations: The ripe fruit of American plum are sweet and edible, and can be eaten straight off the tree, dried or made into preserves. These trees are cultivated for food by many Indigenous tribes and the Navajo also use the roots to make a red dye.3
We want these plants to thrive and for everyone who gets to visit the park to enjoy them, so remember – don’t pick flowers or other parts of the plant!!
Bibliography & Definitions
1 Weakley, A.S., J.C. Ludwig, and J.F. Townsend. 2012. Flora of Virginia. Bland Crowder, ed. Foundation of the Flora of Virginia Project, Inc., Richmond. Fort Worth: Botanical Research Institute of Texas Press.
2 “2013 BONAP North American Plant Atlas. TaxonMaps.” Bonap.net, bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Prunus. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
3 Fryer, Janet. “Prunus Americana.” Www.fs.usda.gov, 2010, www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/shrub/pruame/all.html.
4 Glassberg, Jeffrey. A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America Second Edition. Princeton University Press, 2017.
5 Hilty, John. “Wild Plum (Prunus Americanus).” www.illinoiswildflowers.info, www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/am_plum.htm. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
6 Virginia Botanical Associates. “Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora | Prunus Americana Marshall.” www.vaplantatlas.org, www.vaplantatlas.org/index.php?do=plant&plant=3280. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
7 “Wild Plum.” Missouri Department of Conservation, mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/wild-plum. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
Definitions:
Drupe: a fleshy fruit with a single hard seed (stone). Plums, peaches, and cherries are familiar examples of drupes.
Pome: a fleshy fruit with a hard core in the center containing several small seeds. Apples and pears are the most familiar pomes.
Radially symmetrical: Able to be divided into symmetrical halves by drawing a line any way across it.