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Chickasaw Plum

Prunus angustifolia

Chickasaw plum forms suckering thickets that foam white in earliest spring before the leaves, then ripen sweet red-and-yellow plums. A classic wildlife thicket and edible hedgerow of the South and Plains. As with every plum and cherry, the flesh is the food: the pits, leaves and twigs are cyanogenic and are not.

Family

Rosaceae

Type

tree

Lifespan

perennial

Height

4–20 ft

Spacing

4–20 ft apart

Light

sun, part shade

Soil moisture

moist

Soil pH

acidic, neutral

Bloom

February, March, April, May

Bloom colors

white

Wildlife value

songbirds, butterflies, pollinators, larval host

Caterpillar hosts

~456 butterfly & moth species

Landscape uses

specimen, hedge or screen

Native states

AL, AR, CO, DC, FL, GA, IL, KS, KY, LA, MO, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NM, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV