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Flower

Fruit/foliage

Rosaceae

Chickasaw plum, which is rarely found growing in the wild in Texas, also grows in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Illinois, east through Louisiana, Florida and New Jersey, and north into Maryland and Delaware. It most often grows in sandy, open woods, roadsides and fencerows, or around older dwellings. It has a number of varieties and forms: it may be a twiggy shrub, forming dense thickets or a short-trunked, irregularly branched tree having slender, zigzag, sometimes spiny stems and prominent orange lenticels on the bark. It has been in cultivation since 1874. Angustifolia refers to its slim 1/3- to 2/3-inch foliage. The 1/2- to 3/4-inch-diameter red or yellow fruits ripen May through July and have a lustrous thin skin and a juicy, subacid, delicious flavor. Native Americans dried the fruits on hot rocks for winter use. It also makes excellent preserves. Chickasaw plum is called mountain plum in some areas. Because it can form large thickets it is sometimes used as shelter belt plantings. In a garden setting it may be used to best advantage under shade trees where one may enjoy the view of its masses of billowy white spring blooms.

Plant Habit or Use: large shrub
small tree

Exposure: sun
partial sun
shade

Flower Color: creamy white

Blooming Period: spring

Fruit Characteristics: red or yellow drupe

Height: 15 to 18 feet

Width: 10 to 20 feet, thicket-forming

Plant Character: deciduous

Heat Tolerance: high
medium

Water Requirements:

Soil Requirements: adaptable

USDA Hardiness Zone: 5

Additional Comments: