Scotland - found prunus americana?

[Amoeba]

I apologise that I have no picture as of yet. I'm waiting for a new digi-cam to arrive in the post.

Before I explain, I'm not really too clued up about plants. I only know a few kinds.

Anyway, My boyfriend and I were searching for wild cherries (Edinburgh) when we came across a kind of fruit we had never seen before. It was oval, red that faded to orange in some places, about the size of a strawberry with a smooth skin and a crease along one side (like a plum). The inside was pulpy and yellow with a plum-like texture with fleshy fibers that radiated from the seed and it had a very plum-like seed in the middle. Thing is it didn't look like any plum we had seen before.

I took one fruit home and a single leaf, and had to kind of keep a mental image of the bark and leaf arrangement (though I couldn't remember the leaf arrangement). After some extensive internet searching, the ony species that was of any match at all was prunus americana. I had looked at a picture of every single fruit (and for some the leaf) from every species in the prunus family, the rest didn't even look remotely similar.

Um... oh yeah, the thing that threw me off was that in every page of information I can find for this species is that it grows in North America - there is no mention of it growing anywhere else. That is why I wonder if it is perhaps just a similar species that I haven't been able to identify.

I know I can't get much help with this without pictures - that's why I just need to ask - can or does prunus americana live in Scotland? If not, does anyone know of any species that are very similar in the way the fruit and leaves look to prunus americana that live in the UK?

Thanks.

[Uncle_Filthster]

Are you sure it wasn't cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera)?

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Uncle_Filthster

Are you sure it wasn't cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera)?

That's what I thought too!

[Amoeba]

That's what I thought at first looking at the fruit. But the leaves were much darker, broader and less glossy with a jagged edge. The fruit was also far more of an oval shape, the (few) cherry plums I've found have all been nearly perfectly round.

I don't really know what that means - I don't know how many variations (if any) there are of cherry plums.

[Uncle_Filthster]

Cherry plum was planted extensively around my former place of work and showed a lot of variation in fruit size, shape and colour (and taste ). There was also some variation in leaf size and shape, particularly between those in full sun and shade.

There is also the chance that your plum may be a hybrid between a domestic plum and cherry plum or something similar.