View in other NatureServe Network Field Guides
NatureServe
Montana
Utah
Wyoming
Idaho
Wisconsin
British Columbia
South Carolina
Yukon
California
New York
American Plum - Prunus americana
Native Species
Global Rank:
G5
State Rank:
S4S5
C-value:
4
Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:
External Links
General Description
Shrub to 5 m, spreading by rhizomes and forming thickets. Twigs glabrous to puberulent, reddish, becoming gray, forming thorns. Leaf blades ovate to lanceolate, 5–10 cm long, acuminate, glabrous beneath. Inflorescence 2 to 5 pedicellate flowers on short branch tips before leaves appear. Flowers: hypanthium obconic, glabrous, ca. 3 mm long; sepals lanceolate, puberulent, glandular, 3–4 mm long, reflexed; petals 5–7 mm long. Drupe a plum, 2–3 cm long, yellowish to purple, glaucous (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Species Range
Montana Range
Range Descriptions
Native
Range Comments
SK to QC south to AZ, NM, LA and FL (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 46
(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version)
Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density
Recency
(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
Habitat
Ecology
POLLINATORS The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap:
Bombus vagans,
Bombus bifarius,
Bombus huntii,
Bombus mixtus,
Bombus ternarius,
Bombus terricola,
Bombus occidentalis,
Bombus pensylvanicus,
Bombus bimaculatus,
Bombus griseocollis, and
Bombus impatiens (Macior 1968, Heinrich 1976, Thorp et al. 1983, Colla and Dumesh 2010, Williams et al. 2014).
References
- Literature Cited AboveLegend:
View Online Publication
Colla, S.R. and S. Dumesh. 2010. The bumble bees of southern Ontario: notes on natural history and distribution. Journal of the Entomological Society of Ontario 141:39-68.- Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
- Macior, L.M. 1968. Bombus (Hymenoptera, Apidae) queen foraging in relation to vernal pollination in Wisconsin. Ecology 49:20-25.
- Thorp, R.W., D.S. Horning, and L.L. Dunning. 1983. Bumble bees and cuckoo bumble bees of California (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Bulletin of the California Insect Survey 23:1-79.
- Williams, P., R. Thorp, L. Richardson, and S. Colla. 2014. Bumble Bees of North America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 208 p.
- Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?- Aldrich, D. F. 1978. Overwintering, springtime development and migration of some Aphidea, including Myzus persicae of Northwestern Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, Montana: Montana State University. 112 p.
- DuBois, K.L. 1979. An inventory of the avifauna in the Long Pines of Southeastern Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 113 p.
- Fritzen, D.E. 1995. Ecology and behavior of Mule Deer on the Rosebud Coal Mine, Montana. Ph.D. Dissertation. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 143 p.
- Gobeille, J.E. 1992. The effect of fire on Merriams turkey brood habitat in southeastern Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 61 p.
- Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
- Little, E.L., Jr. 1979. Checklist of United States trees (native and naturalized). Agriculture Handbook No. 541. U.S. Forest Service, Washington, D.C. 375 pp.
- Martinka, R.R. 1970. Structural characteristics and ecological relationships of male blue grouse (Dendragapus obscurus (Say)) territories in southwestern Montana. Ph.D Dissertation. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 73 p.
- Thompson, W. L. 1993. Ecology of Merriam's Turkeys in relation to burned and logged areas in southeastern Montana. Ph.D. Dissertation. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 195 p.
- Web Search Engines for Articles on "American Plum"
