A Plum Assignment

I was on a hike of our property last March when I came across a small flowering tree. I frequently hike the property for several reasons.

First, it lets me keep an eye on things. The landscape changes constantly and I'm always surprised to see something new when walking over a familiar patch. The obvious change is with the season, but the time of day and even the quality of the light - cloudy, sunny, foggy, etc. make a difference in emphasis and observability and thus bring different aspects to my attention.

Second, it's good exercise. In addition to the benefit of an hour or two spent walking, a hike also presents a varied workout. The terrain changes and the footing, especially through tall grass and rocky and uneven ground, is always a challenge. Ducking and dodging tree branches provide interest too.

Third, I frequently carry my camera, looking for opportunities to photograph. It's not too heavy and slung over my shoulder, I hardly notice it. There's an element of a hunt at play. I wonder what I'll see and whether I'll capture its image properly. Part of the challenge of photography is to portray a scene, either on a computer monitor or as a print, as I saw it with my eyes. This sounds simple, but I've learned that what the camera sees is not what I see.

On this particular hike, I saw a small tree covered with white flowers by the rock wall which runs along the north edge of our property. It was almost at the northeast corner of the property where the rock wall intersects a barbed wire fence which is our eastern border. I'd walked by there many times, but had never noticed the tree until it flowered.

I didn't know what it was so I took the following photos of the flowers and young leaves hoping to be able to identify it later.

After some investigating, I've identified it as a Mexican Plum (Prunus mexicana). There are other native plums including the Chickasaw Plum or the American Plum, but I think this one is a Mexican. It's also known as a Bigtree Plum and grows to about 15 to 35 feet tall. This one was at the short end of the range. The plums can be eaten fresh and are also made into preserves. Birds and mammals eat the fruit.

I went out later in the year, at the end of May to see if I could find plums on it, but I didn't see any. The flowers were gone and the branches were fully leafed out. The bark is fairly smooth and has beautiful light and dark bands. The mature leaves are a darker green than in March and are quite a bit bigger.

 

This tree is rare on our property. I've seen another one, but I didn't get too close to it or take photos, so I'm not sure.

This year, I'll revisit the tree and do a better job of photographing it's development. I'll also try to find the other one I've seen and confirm its identity.