Beach plum (Prunus maritima )
Beach plum (Prunus maritima)
The beach plum is a rare and particularly useful member of the prunus family, being small and tough.
A native of the North Eastern side of the USA, the beach plum, as the name suggests, it is used to seaside conditions and tolerates a good deal of wind and cold, and poor sandy soils. Only growing to about 2 m it's more of a shrub than a tree and can be semi-evergreen in habit depending on the cold.
The fruits are usually purple in colour and about 12 - 25 mm in size. Much used by locals where it grows wild, it can be eaten out of hand or cooked for pies, jams and jellies etc. being sweet/acid in flavour. Not easily come by.