Prunus mexicana

Prunus mexicana has a single trunk, an open crown, and reaches a height of 15–38 feet (4.6–11.6 m).[3] It has dark green, simple ovate leaves 2–4.5 inches (5.1–11.4 cm) long and 1.25–2 inches (3.2–5.1 cm) wide.[3] In the early spring it is covered with five-petaled fragrant white or pale pink flowers 0.75–1 inch (19–25 mm) wide.[3] Its dark gray bark is banded with horizontal lenticels.[4] The dark red or purple fruit ripens late in the fall.[5][6]

Prunus mexicana is very similar to Prunus americana, and they intergrade along a broad contact zone centered around Arkansas and Missouri. These intermediate individuals may be impossible to assign to a specific species.[7]

Prunus mexicana is included in the section Prunocerasus.[8]

The native range of the species stretches from South Dakota east to Wisconsin, Ohio, Kentucky, and Georgia, and south to the Mexican states of Coahuila and San Luis Potosí.[1][9]

It is usually found on woodland edges or in open fields. It is adaptable to a wide range of soil pH and is drought-tolerant. The trees are hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture zones 7 to 9.[4]

The fruit is eaten fresh by both mammals and birds.[3]

The fruit is made into preserves, and the tree can serve as a rootstock for grafting on other plum cultivars.[3]

• 
  Flowers of Prunus mexicana

• "Prunus mexicana". Plants for a Future.
• photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Nebraska in 2014