Prunus mexicana, commonly known as the Mexican plum, inch plum, or bigtree plum, is a North American species of plum tree.
Description Prunus mexicana has a single trunk and an open crown, and reaches a height of . Its dark gray bark is banded with horizontal lenticels. It has dark green, simple ovate leaves long and wide.
In the early spring, it is covered with five-petaled, fragrant, white or pale pink flowers wide. The dark red or purple fruit ripen late in the fall.Flora of North America, Prunus mexicana S. Watson, 1882. Mexican or bigtree plum
Similar species P. mexicana is very similar to P. americana and they intergrade along a broad contact zone centered around Arkansas and Missouri. These intermediate individuals, as hybrids, are impossible to assign to a specific species.Flora of North America, Prunus americana
Taxonomy P. mexicana is included in the section Prunocerasus.
Distribution and habitat The native range of the species stretches from South Dakota east to Wisconsin, Ohio, Kentucky, and Georgia, and south to the Mexican states of Coahuila and San Luis Potosí.Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
It is usually found on woodland edges or in open fields. It is adaptable to a wide range of soil pH and is drought-tolerant. The trees are hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture zones 5 to 9.
Ecology The fruit is eaten fresh by both mammals and birds.
Uses The fruit is made into preserves and the tree can serve as a rootstock for grafting other plum cultivars.
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