FNPS Plant Database

Prunus angustifolia

chickasaw plum
  • Photo by: Shirley Denton, Suncoast Chapter FNPS
  • Photo by: Shirley Denton, Suncoast Chapter FNPS
  • Photo by: Mark Hutchinson, Hernando Chapter, FNPS
  • Photo by: Shirley Denton, Suncoast Chapter FNPS
  • Photo by: Shirley Denton, Suncoast Chapter FNPS

Nomenclature

Common Name:

chickasaw plum

Synonym(s):

Genus species:

Prunus angustifolia

Family:

Rosaceae

Plant Specifics

Form:

Tree

Size:

15–20 ft tall , by 15–20 ft wide with new plants growing from rhizomes (underground stems)–form thickets of substantial width

Life Span:

Long-lived perennial

Flower Color:

white

Fruit Color:

orange

Phenology:

Deciduous

Noted For:

Showy Flowers, Showy Fruits

Landscaping

Recommended Uses:

Plant as a screen where its suckers are welcome (woodland edges, casual but large garden settings).

Considerations:

Spreads by underground stems forming clumps small thickets. Individual trees are fairly short-lived but the thicket is long-lived. When short-shoots die off, they can be thorny.

Availability:

Native Nurseries, FNPS Plant Sales

Propagation:

Seed or harvest of suckers.

Light:

Full Sun, Part Sun

Moisture Tolerance:

Always Flooded---------------------------------Extremely Dry

□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■□□□□□□

Usually moist, occasional inundation -to- Somewhat long very dry periods

Salt Water Flooding Tolerance:

Unknown

Salt Spray/Salty Soil Tolerance:

Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray

Soil or Other Substrate:

Sand, Loam

Soil pH:

Circum to neutral

Suitable to Grow In:

8A,8B,9A,9B

USDA zones are based on the average annual extreme minimum winter temperature.

Don't know your zone? Click here to search by zip code.

Vouchered In:

Distribution
Vouchered
Not vouchered
Selected
Click a county The county name will appear here.
No county distribution is available for this plant yet.
Starting…
Map coded by Melissa Fernandez-de Cespedes (Paynes Prairie Chapter)

Ecology

Wildlife:

Pollinators, Birds, Mammals

Flowers attract bees. Documented bee visitors include Dialictus placideizsis, Hylaeus conflzeizs, Euylaezcs pectoralis and Epeolzcs zonatus(Deyrup et al. 2002).

Birds, squirrels and other animals eat the fruit.

Native Habitats:

Woodland edges, fencerows, open woods. Also cultivated

Natural Range in Florida:

Comments:

Ethnobotany:

General Comments:

If a single plant of similar stature and flowers is desired, consider flatwoods plum, Prunus umbellatus. Based on BONAP and ISB maps, the range of this species covers much of the southern and south central US with some outliers to the north and west. In Florida, it has been documented in many counties in the northern half of the state, and this author is aware of it being in others. It appears to be appropriate to consider this species native throughout this part of the state.
FNPS Plant Print

Citations:

Deyrup, Mark, Jay Edirisinghe, and Beth Norden. (2002). The diversity and floral hosts of bees at the Archbold Biological Station, Florida (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Insecta Mundi, 544. ( https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/insectamundi/544/ ). Accessed 2026. University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.


Haehle, Robert G. and Joan Brookwell. (1999). Native Florida Plants. Gulf Publishing Company. Houston, TX.


Huegel, Craig N. (2010). Native Plant Landscaping for Florida Wildlife. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.


O'Rourke, Kieran. (2022). Salt tolerant plants – Gardening in the Coastal Southeast (blog post). ( https://southeastgarden.com/salt-tolerant-plants.html ). Accessed 2026.

Ruter, John M, and Bodie V. Pennisi. (2017). Selecting Salt-Tolerant Native Trees for the Georgia Coast (Bulletin B-1477). ( https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/publications/B1477/selecting-salt-tolerant-native-trees-for-the-georgia-coast/ ). Accessed 2026. College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA.


Wunderlin, R. P, B. F. Hansen, A. R. Franck, and F. B. Essig. (1999+). Atlas of Florida Plants. ( https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/ ). [S. M. Landry and K. N. Campbell (application development), USF Water Institute.] Institute for Systematic Botany, University of South Florida, Tampa.

Request an update