What is "prunus maritima"

Plum \Plum\, n. [AS. pl[=u]me, fr. L. prunum; akin to Gr. ?, ?. Cf. Prune a dried plum.]

1. (Bot.) The edible drupaceous fruit of the Prunus domestica, and of several other species of Prunus; also, the tree itself, usually called plum tree.

   The bullace, the damson, and the numerous varieties of plum, of our gardens, although growing into thornless trees, are believed to be varieties of the blackthorn, produced by long cultivation.
   --G. Bentham.

   Note: Two or three hundred varieties of plums derived from the Prunus domestica are described; among them the greengage, the Orleans, the purple gage, or Reine Claude Violette, and the German prune, are some of the best known.

   Note: Among the true plums are;

   Beach plum, the Prunus maritima, and its crimson or purple globular drupes,

   Bullace plum. See Bullace.

   Chickasaw plum, the American Prunus Chicasa, and its round red drupes.

   Orleans plum, a dark reddish purple plum of medium size, much grown in England for sale in the markets.

   Wild plum of America, Prunus Americana, with red or yellow fruit, the original of the Iowa plum and several other varieties. [1913 Webster] Among plants called plum, but of other genera than Prunus, are;

   Australian plum, Cargillia arborea and Cargillia australis, of the same family with the persimmon.

   Blood plum, the West African H[ae]matostaphes Barteri.

   Cocoa plum, the Spanish nectarine. See under Nectarine.

   Date plum. See under Date.

   Gingerbread plum, the West African Parinarium macrophyllum.

   Gopher plum, the Ogeechee lime.

   Gray plum, Guinea plum. See under Guinea.

   Indian plum, several species of Flacourtia.

2. A grape dried in the sun; a raisin.

3. A handsome fortune or property; formerly, in cant language, the sum of [pounds]100,000 sterling; also, the person possessing it.

4. Something likened to a plum in desirableness; a good or choice thing of its kind, as among appointments, positions, parts of a book, etc.; as, the mayor rewarded his cronies with cushy plums, requiring little work for handsome pay

5. A color resembling that of a plum; a slightly grayish deep purple, varying somewhat in its red or blue tint.

   Plum bird, Plum budder (Zo["o]l.), the European bullfinch.

   Plum gouger (Zo["o]l.), a weevil, or curculio ( Coccotorus scutellaris), which destroys plums. It makes round holes in the pulp, for the reception of its eggs. The larva bores into the stone and eats the kernel.

   Plum weevil (Zo["o]l.), an American weevil which is very destructive to plums, nectarines, cherries, and many other stone fruits. It lays its eggs in crescent-shaped incisions made with its jaws. The larva lives upon the pulp around the stone. Called also turk, and plum curculio. See Illust. under Curculio.

Prunus maritima, the beach plum, is a species of plum native to the East Coast of the United States, from Maine south to Maryland. Although sometimes listed as extending to New Brunswick, the species is not known from collections there, and does not appear in the most authoritative works on the flora of that Canadian province.

Prunus maritima is a deciduous shrub, in its natural sand dune habitat growing 1–2 m (40–80 inches) high, although it can grow larger, up to 4 m (160 inches or over 13 feet) tall, when cultivated in gardens. The leaves are alternate, elliptical, 3–7 cm (1.2–2.8 inches) long and 2–4 cm (0.8–1.6 inches) broad, with a sharply toothed margin. They are green on top and pale below, becoming showy red or orange in the autumn. The flowers are 1–1.5 cm (0.4–0.6 inches) in diameter, with five white petals and large yellow anthers. The fruit is an edible drupe 1.5–2 cm (0.6–0.8 inches) in diameter in the wild plant, red, yellow, blue, or nearly black.

A plant with rounded leaves, of which only a single specimen has ever been found in the wild, has been described as Prunus maritima var. gravesii (Small) G.J.Anderson, though its taxonomic status is questionable, and it may be better considered a cultivar 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.

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 tap root. In dunes it is often partly buried in drifting sand. It blooms in mid-May and June. The fruit ripens in August and early September.

The species is endangered in Maine, where it is in serious decline due to commercial development of its beach habitats.