Prunus mexicana

Does not form thickets and does not root sprout. Flowers musky and unpleasant. Pedicles, calyx, and branchlets slightly hairy. Old trees have bark shedding in large plats, older bark deeply furrowed. Sepals red. Calyx lobes dentate at apex somewhat glandular. Anthers yellow. Twigs purplish brown. Leaves thick at maturity, pubescent and reticulate beneath.

Plums attract birds. Nectar-bees, Fruit-birds, Fruit-mammals; this plant is a special value to native bees and serves as the larval host for the Tiger Swallowtail and Cecropia moths.

Dry to moist thin woods, river bottoms, prairies, and thickets.

The fruit is eaten fresh and made into preserves and is also consumed by birds and mammals. This species has served as a stock for grafting cultivated varieties of plums.