Wild Plum
Prunus americana Marshall
Rosaceae
Image
Names and Their Meanings
Wild Plum - Prunus americana Marshall
Kanienʼkéha
wíhson
Anishinaabemowin
bgesaanmin'gaawanzh, “wild sugar plums”; bagesaanak = plums
French
Prunier d'Amérique
Wild Plum
Description
This fruit was documented by Frederick Wilkerson Waugh and his Haudenosaunee teachers in the 1910s at Six Nations of the Grand River as a popular food that was, “Growing plentifully along the Grand River in neighborhoods,” and of “two kinds: red and whitish, sweet and round; one more oval, flattish, plain red.” He also documented knowledge and use of wild plums as a popular food by Mississauga, Ojibwe and Ottawa communities in 1916.
Conservation Status
In Ontario S4 (Apparently Secure), and New York S3 (Vulnerable)