Wild Plum Prunus Americana Kingdom: Plantae FEATURES Division: Magnoliophyta Wild Plum Is Also Known As American Plum

wild plum Prunus americana Kingdom: Plantae FEATURES Division: Magnoliophyta Wild plum is also known as American plum. This Class: Magnoliopsida deciduous tree may attain a height of 20 feet and a Order: Rosales trunk diameter of up to eight inches. Its bark is dark- brown or dark gray and scaly. Twigs are slender and Family: Rosaceae brown. The ovoid, pointed, red-brown buds may be ILLINOIS STATUS up to one-fourth inch in length. The leaves are arranged alternately along the twigs. Each simple, common, native oval leaf may be four inches long and about two © Guy Sternberg inches wide. The leaf is finely toothed along the edges but does not have glands in the teeth. The smooth or hairy leaf is green on the upper surface and pale on the lower surface. The leafstalk is slender and up to one inch long. Flowers develop in clusters. The five-petaled flowers have white or pink petals and are about one inch wide. The fruit is a drupe (a seed enclosed in a hard, dry material that in turn is covered with a fleshy material). The spherical drupe may be up to one inch in diameter. The fruit is red or red with a white covering and contains one seed.

BEHAVIORS Wild plum may be found throughout Illinois. It grows tree in flower in thickets and woods. Flowers are produced from April through May. The fruits are used in making jelly and as a food source by wildlife. The wood is hard ILLINOIS RANGE and brown.

leaves

bark ripening fruit

Aquatic Habitats leaves in fall none

Woodland Habitats upland deciduous forests

Prairie and Edge Habitats edge © Illinois Department of Natural Resources. 2017. Biodiversity of Illinois. Unless otherwise noted, photos and images © Illinois Department of Natural Resources.