Wild Plum Delicacy

My good friend Wayne Buck who operates Nith River Native Plants gave me a gift a few weeks back; a jar of Wild Plum (Prunus americana) jam.  I just cracked it open this morning and it is fantastic.

The photo below, taken on the Cambridge-to-Paris Rail Trail south of Glen Morris shows the typical glacous coating on the ripe fruits.  Lacking fruits I find it's easiest to identify this species by the leaves although it could be confused with a young Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium) - a non-native species that's fairly common on the landscape.  Mature Sweet Cherry have distinct bark with lateral 'lines' and grow to be trees much larger than Wild Plum.  A couple of differences which Michigan Flora notes: P. avium (sweet fruit, calyx lobes entire, leaves retain some pubescence especially along midrib beneath, glands on petiole near summit) P. americana (sour fruit, calyx lobes glandular toothed, leaves more or less glabrous beneath, glands on base of leaves rather then on petiole).  Wild Plum tends to grow on mesic soils in woodlands, forest edges, hedgerows, thickets, right-of-ways.

Delicious!