Native Plums: Beach plums, American plums, Goose, Chickasaw...

The plums are popular delectable morsels, and the plums and other stone fruits are encountered in an abundance of species throughout the northern hemispheres. Here in eastern North America we have several species of native plum, and each is delicious in its own ways. Native plums historically have been a staple of Native American diets and agroecosystems. They have been traded and planted far and wide throughout eastern North America for thousands of years. Liberty Hyde Bailey in his 1892 monograph wrote that “the native plums constitute probably the hardest knot in American pomology.” That’s because our native plums readily hybridize with one another, making the boundaries separating one species from another fraught and fuzzy. The species listed below should be thought of as groups or complexes:

• The American plum Prunus americana complex —

  • Prunus americana — the classic American plum. These grow from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up to Canada, and west to the Rockies. Fruit size ranges from about 0.75 inches around up to 1.5 inches around, and skin color is variable from red, to purple, yellow, and sometimes pink or blueish, although generally trends towards reddish (almost purple) skin, and features a faint yeast bloom on the skin. There are small yellow dots on the skin if you look closely. The skin can be sour but the flesh is yellow/peach colored and very sweet. The pits are freestone and about a quarter to half inch in size. The leaves 2-5” long and elliptical or ovate in shape, featuring a single or double set of pointed teeth around the margins. Forms a small tree up to about 15-20’ tall, spreading by root suckers.

  • Prunus nigra — the Canada plum. These grow throughout the northeast and Great Lakes regions. Fruit size, color, and taste similar to P. americana, often trending towards more expression of yellow and even orange in the skin color of the ripened fruit. The fruits are freestone. The leaves are more oval shaped than P. americana, and are slightly smaller, 2-4” inches long. The margins of the leaves also feature a set of pointed teeth, although they can be less dramatic than in P. americana. Where P. americana and P. nigra co-occur they intergrade. Forms a small tree up to about 15-20’ tall, spreading by root suckers.

  • Prunus mexicana — the Mexican plum. These have a more southwestern range within the range of P. americana. They are more frequently encountered in places like Texas, and the Ozarks of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Further east, the P. mexicana intergrades with P. americana where some authors describe this variant as P. americana var. mollis. The fruit size, shape, and color is similar to P. americana, but the Mexican plum trends towards more deep-red to purple skin color in the ripened fruit. The fruits are freestone. The leaves are slightly larger on average, and more hairy (pubescent) on their undersides. The Mexican plum grows the tallest of the native plums, capable of achieving heights of 30 feet. It can spread itself by root suckers.

• The Chickasaw plum Prunus angustifolia complex —

  • Prunus angustifolia — the Chickasaw plum. These are found throughout the southeast from Texas and Florida and north to Maryland and Kansas, and beyond. The color of the ripened fruits ranges from red to yellow, usually one or the other. Their color is simple and uniform, usually without a yeast bloom, and their size is about one inch around, more or less. The skin is not sour and the flesh is very sweet, leaving an overall gustatory impression of delicate sweetness. The pit tends to be clingstone. The leaves are small, only 1-2.5 inches long. They are lanceolate in shape, and a distinctive feature of them is that the leaf midrib is shorter than the leaf itself. This results in a curled and folded appearance, where the two hemispheres of the leaf are like a half-opened book. The margins of the leaves of chickasaw are very finely toothed, but the teeth do not come to a point; instead, they are blunt and tipped with tiny black glands. Chickasaw plums forms a short, compact tree or shrub up to 6-9’ tall, spreading by root suckers to make a thicket.

  • Prunus munsoniana — the wild goose plum. These have a home range in the midwest, being especially found in places such as Kentucky and Tennessee, and west to the Ozarks. Fruits are among the largest of the native plums, growing up to 1.5-2.0 inches in diameter. The fruits are most similar to those of chickasaw, in that the skins are not sour, and the overall impression of these plums is of delicate sweetness. The color of the ripened fruit is usually red or yellow, sometimes with the two colors mottling together. There are tiny yellow dots on the fruit and there can be a faint yeast bloom on the skin. The shape of the fruit can be round, or egg or pear shaped, sometimes with a prominent medial vein, and the pits are generally clingstone. The leaves are much like the chickasaw in shape and form, but are larger being 3-4 inches long, and they have a more open, less folded appearance. The margins of the leaves are also like chickasaw, being finely serrate with the teeth being blunt and tipped with tiny black glands. Forms a small tree with an open, spreading-form, up to about 12-16’ in height, spreading by root suckers.

• The Hortulan plum, Prunus hortulana complex — this species doesn’t fit clearly with the americana complex nor with the angustifolia complex. Speaking in the most general, broad terms, it seems to be intermediate between P. munsoniana and P. americana. The ripened fruits tend to be bright red with tiny yellow dots on the skin, but other colors are possible. Fruit is generally round, and size ranges from about 1-1.5 inches in diameter. The leaves of the Hortulan plums can be the largest of the native plums, often over 4-5 inches long. In general, they are the same shape as P. americana, but more rugose or crinkled in their appearance, and instead of having a single or double row of pointed teeth around their margins, they have crenate-serrate teeth (similar to P. munsoniana but larger and more obvious) tipped with small, black glands.

• The Beach plum Prunus maritima complex —

  • Prunus maritima — the beach plum. These grow along the eastern sea coast from Virginia north to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Makes a small plum 0.5-0.75 inches around, generally dark purple, but sometimes yellow or orange, with a yeast bloom on the skin. Has a sweet flavor, and makes an excellent jam. Leaves are small 1.5-3 inches long, oval to elliptical, with fine teeth around their margins. Forms a small tree or shrub 6-10’ tall, and tends not to sucker much. Being native to behind sand dunes, the young trees have a tendency to fall slump over and sprawl out as a way to hold on to moisture and shade, so don’t expect this tree to respect an upright, orchard form.

  • Prunus umbellata — the flatwoods plum. This species is like the beach plum but they do not share a range — the flatwoods plum is more southern in its distribution, and also more inland, growing in a belt from North Carolina, to Florida, and Texas, sharing roughly the same range as the flatwoods ecosystems featuring long leaf pine. Fruits are small 0.5-0.1 inch in diameter and described as very tart, sour, and sometimes sweet. The ripened fruits are dark purple or blueish in color and covered in a heavy yeast bloom. Forms a tree up to about 10-15’ tall, which is not known for suckering.

  • Prunus alleghaniensis — the Allegheny plum. These are rather like the beach plum or the flatwoods plum, but are restricted in their range to shale barrens in the central Appalachian mountains, mostly in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Fruits are small 0.5-0.75 inches around, leaves are lanceolate with tiny teeth around the margins. Forms a small shrub 3-8’ tall and sends out suckers.

I share all of this, because I grow several species at my farm, and as they are all capable of hybridizing, I make an effort to grade seedlings according to the traits they display. If I send out a seedling as Prunus hortulana, P. munsoniana, or P. americana, I do so according to the best of my abilities.

Only the seed from the best fruits of the best parent trees are collected for the nursery.

In order to get fruit, you’ll need to have at least two individual native plum trees for cross-pollination. Generally all the species above have a similar bloom time and will cross-pollinate each other without difficulty, so you could have a species mix, but it is perhaps best if you have two of each type.

They can be precocious bearers, so expect flowers and fruit in about 4 years or less. Because of their suckering habit, you’ll either want to plant them in an area where you can let them go to form a thicket, or plant them in a way that you can mow around them.

Seedlings are generally sent bareroot, and average 2-4’ tall.