''Prunus maritima'', the beach plum, is a species of

plum A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century. Plums are ...

native to the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the region encompassing the coast, coastline where the Eastern United States meets the Atlantic Ocean; it has always pla ...

. It is a choice wild edible and its few pests and salt tolerance make it a resilient fruit crop for degraded lands and urban soils.

Description

''Prunus maritima'' is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

, in its natural

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

habitat growing tall, although it can grow larger, up to tall, when cultivated in gardens. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are alternate, elliptical, long and broad, with a sharply toothed margin. They are green on top and pale below, becoming showy red or orange in the autumn. The

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s are in diameter, with five white petals and large yellow

anther The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

is an edible

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

in diameter in the wild plant, red, yellow, blue, or nearly black.Maine Department of Conservation Natural Areas Program: Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan . The plant is salt tolerant and cold hardy. It prefers the full sun and well-drained soil. It spreads roots by putting out suckers but in coarse soil puts down a

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproot ...

. In dunes it is often partly buried in drifting sand. It blooms in mid-May and June. The fruit ripens in August and early September. The species is endangered in Maine, where it is in serious decline due to commercial development of its beach habitats.

Taxonomy

The species was first described by Marshall in 1785 as ''Prunus maritima'', the "Sea side Plumb". A few sources cite Wangenheim as the author, though Wangenheim's publication dates to 1787, two years later than Marshall's. A plant with rounded leaves, of which only a single specimen has ever been found in the wild, has been described as ''P. maritima'' var. ''gravesii'' (Small) G.J.Anderson,Center for Plant Conservation
''Prunus maritima'' var. ''gravesii''
though its taxonomic status is questionable, and it may be better considered a

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

''P. maritima'' 'Gravesii'.University of Connecticut
''Prunus maritima'' 'Gravesii'
The original plant, found in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, died in the wild in about 2000, but it is maintained in cultivation from rooted cuttings.

Distribution and habitat

The species can be found from

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

south to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. Although sometimes listed as extending north to Canada's

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

, the species is not known from collections there and does not appear in the most authoritative works on the flora of that province.Hinds, Harold R., 2002, ''Flora of New Brunswick'', 2nd ed., Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Uses

The species is grown commercially for fruit and value-added products like jam. Taste of ripe fruit is prevailingly sweet, though individual bushes range in flavor and some are sour or slightly bitter. About the size of grapes, beach plums are much smaller in size when compared to the longer cultivated Asian varieties found in the supermarket, though are resilient to many North American stone fruit pests, such as black knot fungus. A number of

s have been selected for larger and better-flavored fruit, including Resigno, Jersey Gem (Rutgers), ECOS, Eastham, Hancock and Squibnocket.

Natali Vineyards Natali Vineyards is a winery in the Goshen, New Jersey, Goshen section of Middle Township, New Jersey, Middle Township (mailing address is Cape May Court House, New Jersey, Cape May Court House) in Cape May County, New Jersey, USA. Formerly a pas ...

in Goshen, New Jersey, produces a wine from beach plums. Greenhook Ginsmiths in Greenpoint, Brooklyn,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, makes a gin flavored with beach plums. The seed pits of the fruits are toxic due to their hydrocyanic acid content.

Culture

Places named after the beach plum include Plum Island, Massachusetts,

Plum Island, New York Plum Island is an island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic is ...

, Plum Cove Beach in Lanesville,

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...

, and Beach Plum Island State Park in

Sussex County, Delaware Sussex County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of Delaware, on the Delmarva Peninsula. As of the 2020 census, the population was 237,378, making it the state's second most populated county behind New Castle and ahead of Ke ...

. Fresh and dried, beach plums were used extensively by Native Americans and eventually colonists. The beach plum is experiencing a revival in popularity with the resurgence of foraging, the local food movement, and the prominence of native species selection in permaculture design.

Gallery

File:BeachPlums.jpg, Ripe beach plums at the North Beach area of Sandy Hook, New Jersey File:Beach Plum Shrubs Cape Cod MA.JPG, Beach plum blooms at Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts File:ResignoBeachPlum.jpg, Resigno Cultivar in Philadelphia garden, Pennsylvania File:Beach plum (4411069683).jpg, Beach plums in early stages of bloom File:BeachPlumLongIsland.jpg, A Beach Plum on the eastern end of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

References

External links

*
Beach Plum @ Cornell University
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2081045 maritima Plants described in 1789 Trees of Northern America