The two Northern native plums bear names telling of their home turf. Canada Plum ( Prunus Nigra) has the more northerly range and blacker bark, while the American plum ( Prunus americana) has a range going much further south into the United states.

Both are small trees 20 to 30 feet tall, up to 10 inches in diameter, that often spread into a thicket by root sprouts and that have pronounced thorns , very snowy, fragrant flowers and an edible fruit with astringent skin.

The inner bark of these wild plums has been made into a decoction effective as a mouth- sore gargle and as a disinfectant wash.

The bark of the root can also be used to cure mouth canker sores. Scraped and mashed, fresh or dried and made into a decoction, the root bark has been used to heal " broken breast(?)". It has also been mixed with wild cherry root bark and brewed into a decoction that's good for driving intestinal worms.

At home we enjoy the Canada plums for their nearly intoxicating fragrance in spring and their bi-annual harvest of fruit. I often cut them in half, extract the pit, and chew the pulp off the astringent skin we usually try to dry some, cut in half for winter and for a snack on summer camping trips.

Both wild plums have naturally spawned multiple varieties with varying sizes and qualities of fruit, usually suitable for jams, pies and so on. They can also be used as " root stock" for grafting on store- type varieties with better tasting fruits.