Prunus maritima, the beach plum, is a species of plum native to the East Coast of the United States. It is grown commercially for its fruit and resists certain pests.
Description Prunus maritima is a deciduous shrub, in its natural sand dune habitat growing tall, although it can grow larger, up to tall. The leaves 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.
Blooming from mid-May to June, the flowers are in diameter, with five white petals and large yellow anthers. Ripening from August to early September, the fruit is a drupe, in diameter in the wild plant, and colored red, yellow, blue, or nearly black.Maine Department of Conservation Natural Areas Program: . Accessed August 31, 2026.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan .
Taxonomy The species was first described by Marshall in 1785 as Prunus maritima, the "Sea side Plumb".Marshall, H. (1785). Arbustrum Americanum: The American Grove, Or, An Alphabetical Catalogue of Forest Trees and Shrubs, Natives of the American United States, Arranged According to the Linnaean System, p. 112. Joseph Crukshank, Philadelphia. A few sources cite Wangenheim as the author,Grier, N. M., & Grier, C. R. (1929). A List of Plants Growing Under Cultivation in the Vicinity of Cold Spring Harbor, New York. American Midland Naturalist 11: 307–387. 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 P. maritima 'Gravesii'.University of Connecticut: Prunus maritima 'Gravesii' The original plant, found in Connecticut, 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 south to Maryland.United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile: Prunus maritima Although sometimes listed as extending north to Canada's New Brunswick, 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.
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. In dunes it is often partly buried in drifting sand.
Conservation The species is endangered in Maine, where it is in serious decline due to commercial development of its beach habitats.
Toxicity The seed pits of the fruits are toxic due to their hydrocyanic acid content.
Uses The species is grown commercially for fruit and value-added products like jam.Cornell University Department of Horticulture: Beach Plum 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 cultivars have been selected for larger and better-flavored fruit, including Resigno, Jersey Gem (Rutgers), ECOS, Eastham, Hancock and Squibnocket.
Natali Vineyards in Goshen, New Jersey, produces a wine from beach plums. Greenhook Ginsmiths in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York, makes a gin flavored with beach plums.Greenhook Ginsmiths. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
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, the La Croix flavor, and the prominence of native species selection in permaculture design.
In culture Places named after the beach plum include Plum Island, Massachusetts, Plum Island, New York, Plum Cove Beach in Lanesville, Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Beach Plum Island State Park in Sussex County, Delaware.
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References
Further reading
External links
Beach Plum @ Cornell University