Prunus americana

Forms thickets from root sprouts. Flowers fragrant with 2-4 in a cluster. Sepals green. Side flowering branches may have thorns at tip. Shaggy bark. Reddish brown hairless buds. Pedicles, calyx, and branchlets hairless. No glands on doubly serrate leaf margins.

Plums are not a choice food for wildlife, but the plants provide valuable nesting cover and are a host to many butterflies. P. americana serves as a special value to native bees, bumble bees, and honey bees.

Woodland edges, stream banks, upland pastures, prairie ravines, sand dunes, stream valleys, old fields, and roadsides.