PRUNUS MEXICANA

by Candace Paige Anderson

Scientific Name: Prunus Mexicana . Authority is Carl Linnaeus.(Cited in Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas by Albert Radford, Harry Ahles, & C. Ritchie Bell)

Fruit of Prunus Mexicana

Common Names:

Mexican Plum; Big Tree Plum

Higher Taxa:

  • Class- Magnoliopsida(Class thru Genus cited from An Integrated System
  • Subclass-Rosidae
  • Order- Rosales
  • Family-Rosaceae
  • Genus- Prunus
  • Tribe- Tribe VII Pruneaae (Cited in Gray's Manual of Botany by M.L
    Fernald)

    Identification:

    Carl Linnaeus described this species(Cited in Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas by Albert Radford, Harry Ahles, & C. Ritchie Bell). Located at the Linnaean herbarium at the Linnean Society of London. (Cited from Taxonomic Literature Volume 2: 2nd edition by Frans A. Stafleu & Richard S. Cowan). The species Prunus Mexicana is described and is included in an identification key in the Manual of the Trees of North America Vol 2 by charles Sargent. Leaves ovate to elliptic or obovate, abruptly long-pointed and acuminate at apex, rounded or rarely cuneate and often glandular at base, and finely doubly serrate with apiculate slender straight or slightly incurved teeth, at maturity thick, dark yellow-g reen, glabrous and lustrous on the upper surface, paler and sparingly covered on the lower surface with long soft white hairs most abundant on the prominant midrib and primary veins and on the numerous conspicuous reticulate veinlets. 13/4 to 31/4 inches long and 11/4 to 2 inches wide; petioles stout, pubescent or puberulous, glandular at apex with large dark glands, or eglandular, 2/5 to 3/5 inches in length. Flowers on slender pedicels in 3 or 4-flowered sessile umbels; calyx-tube narrow -obconic, gla brous, the lobes oblong or oblong-ovate; petals sometimes puberulous on the outer surfacetoward the base, ovate-orbicular to oblongovate, rounded at the narrow apex, crenulate, abruptly or gradually narrowed below into a short claw, about 3 times as long as the calyx-lobes. Fruit ripening from the end of August to early October. Bark dark, nearly black or light gray, exfoliating in platelike scales on young stems and large branches, becoming rough and deeply furrowed on old trunks.

    Geography:

    Open woods on rich alluvial botton-lands, upland prairies and hillsides; southwestern Kansas through Arkansas to western Oklahoma, western Louisiana, northern and eastern Texas to the valley of the San Antonio River, ranging westward in Texas over the Edw ards Plateau and to Brown and Palo Pinto Countriew; in West Feliciana Parish, eastern Louisiana; in Coahuila and Nuevo Leon. Also found throughout Arkansas.(Cited from Manual of the Trees of North America Vol 2. By Charles Sargent)

    Quercus nigra L.
    AREA STATUS REFERENCES
    North America:
    Continental United States; Canada    		Yes Duncan & Duncan, 1988
    Eastern North America:
    United States east of Mississippi;
    Ontario and eastern Canada    		YesDuncan & Duncan, 1988
    Southeastern United States:
    AL AR DE DC FL GA KY MD NC SC TN VA WV    		YesDuncan & Duncan, 1988
    Southern Appalachian States:
    AL GA KY MD NC SC TN VA WV    		YesDuncan & Duncan, 1988
    Coastal PlainWidespreadRadford, Ahles & Bell, 1968;
    Jones & Coile, 1988
    PiedmontWidespreadRadford, Ahles & Bell, 1968;
    Jones & Coile, 1988
    Blue Ridge MountainsMarginalRadford, Ahles & Bell, 1968
    Great Smoky Mountains National Park
    		NoRadford, Ahles & Bell, 1968
    Ridge and ValleyYesJones & Coile, 1988
    Cumberland PlateauYesJones & Coile, 1988
    Central ArchYesAlbert J. Meier, Pers. Comm.
    GeorgiaYesJones & Coile, 1988
    Clarke County, GeorgiaYesUGA Herbarium Specimens
    Sams FarmCommonJohn Pickering, Pers. Ob.
    Old Field
    		No adultsJohn Pickering, Pers. Ob.
    Wetland
    		?-
    Woods
    		CommonJohn Pickering, Pers. Ob.
    1-Hectare Plot
    		CommonJohn Pickering, Pers. Ob.

    References:

    Aheles, H., Bell, C.R., & Radford, A. 1968. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the
    Carolinas Vol. 2. The University of North Carolina Press. Pg. 565-566 & 556-
    557. Cowan, R., & Stafleu, F.A. 1976. Taxonomic Literature Vol. 2. 2nd edition. Utrecht
    Holkema & Scheltema Bohn. Pg. 569.
    Cronquist, A. 1981. An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants.
    Columbia University Press, New York. Pg. XII-XV.
    Fernald, M.L. 1964. Gray's Manual of Botany 8th Edition. Merritt Lyndon Fernald
    Press. Pg. 565- 567.
    Sargent, C.S. 1965. Manual of the Trees pf North America Vol. 1. Dover
    Publications, Inc. New York. Pg. 575