Mexican Plum
Prunus mexicana
Family: Rosaceae
CHARACTERISTICS
Deciduous trees reaching 35-40’ tall. Spring flowering with white, aromatic flowers appear before the leaves, followed by edible, plum-like fruits (best made into preserves). 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.
LANDSCAPE USE
Small landscape tree.
GROWING CONDITIONS
AN EXPLANAITION OF TERMS USED
SUN afternoon shade when young, can handle full sun when older, full sun in upper elevations
WATER moderate to riparian
SOIL not picky, but good drainage and amendments encouraged
HARDINESS hardy to about 0°F
BASIN middle zone
CONTAINER does ok in container but will not attain full size
NUTRITION moderate
MAINTENANCE very little
Photo by Mountain States Wholesale Nursery
Prunus mexicana on iNaturalist
ECOLOGY
This tree is a larval host for the tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus), the geometrid moth Eupithecia maestosa, the Western Sheep Moth (Hemileuca eglanterina), the Ceanothus Silk Moth (Hyalophora euryalus), the Lorquin's Admiral (Limenitis lorquini), the Western Tent Caterpillar Moth (Malacosoma californica), the cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) and many other moths and butterflies. Fruit is consumed by birds and mammals. Like many plants in the Rosaceae, this is a great plant for domestic and native bees. The tree provides nesting location and habitat for birds.
ETHNOBOTANY
The fruits are edible, best processed into preserves.
NATURAL DISTRIBUTION
Native to the midwest and southern United States as far east as Texas south into adjacent Mexico in dry to moist thin woods, river bottoms & prairies.
TAXONOMY AND NAME
This plant is in the Rosaceae, the rose family. There are 393 species of Prunus native to the North American temperate regions, the neotropics of South America, and temperate and tropical regions of Eurasia and Africa.
Prunus is Latin for “plum tree” while the species name “mexicana” refers to its occurrence in Mexico.
Plants are lush in summer with foliage, photo by Bob O'Kennon, iNaturalist
Floral details. Plants flower in early spring before or while the leaves emerge. Photo by Zane Henderson, iNaturalist
The flowers are followed by fruit which ripens as it gets warmer. They are plum-like fruits. Photo by Jess Alynn McLain, iNaturalist