The Dawes Arboretum

Common name: Mexican plum

Family: Rosaceae (rose family)

Distribution: e. United States to Mexico

IUCN Red list: Least concern

Hardiness: USDA Zone 6

Life form: Deciduous tree

NatureServe Rank: G4 - Apparently Secure

Comments: This plum is a beautiful single-trunked, spring-flowering small tree with bark that eventually gets dark and striated, peeling off in patches. It grows in full sun or as an understory tree, usually in deep rich soils of river bottoms, open woods, fencerows and well-drained prairies. Early in the spring it is covered with clouds of white fragrant flowers that are up to an inch wide. The dark red or purple edible fruits ripen late in the fall. It does not sucker from the base and is relatively drought tolerant.