- Prunus americana
Taxobox
name = Wild plum
regnum =Plant ae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo =Rosales
familia =Rosaceae
subfamilia =Prunoideae
genus = "Prunus "
subgenus = "Prunus"
sectio = "Prunocerasus"
species = "P. americana"
binomial = "Prunus americana"
binomial_authority = Marsh., 1785 [Bailey, Page 2827.]The Wild Plum ("Prunus americana") or Common Wild Plum, or American Plum, Marshall's Large Yellow Sweet Plum, has been found in every state of the union except Texas, California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Hawaii and Alaska. It has been very generally confounded with the Canada Plum. The fruit is smaller, rounder than that of the Canada Plum and bright red in color. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhatchett/208134709/ photo] Many cultivated varieties have been derived from this species, as it quickly responds to the gardener's care; it also forms an excellent stock upon which to graft the domestic plum.Keeler, pages 121-122.]
Professor Sargent says of this tree, "As an ornamental plant "P. americana" has real value; the long wand-like branches form a wide, graceful head which is handsome in winter and in spring is covered with masses of pure white flowers followed by ample bright foliage and abundant showy fruit."
The wild plums have been found to be the hosts of the hop aphids which are so destructive to the hops just at the time of their maturity, so it is recommended that plum trees not be in the vicinity of hop fields.
References
Bibliography
* cite book
last =Keeler
first =Harriet L.
title =Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them
publisher =Charles Scriber's Sons
date =1900
location =New York Downloadable Google Books at [http://books.google.com/books?id=toGzk9UVESEC&pg=PA3&dq=Our+Native+Trees+and+How+to+Identify+Them#PPR3,M1] .
* cite book
last =Bailey
first =Liberty Hyde
title =The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
publisher =The MacMillan Company
date =1916
location =New York Downloadable Google Books at [http://books.google.com/books?id=EpMDAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA177-PA2&dq=prunus+americana#PPP16,M1] .External links
* [http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/DENDROLOGY/Syllabus2/factsheet.cfm?ID=541 American plum] , Virginia Tech Department of Forestry Tree ID.
* [http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PRAM Prunus americana] , USDA Plants Database.
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