Scrub plum

Shrubs, sometimes suckering, ˂much branched˃, 5–10(–20) dm, thorny. Twigs with axillary end buds, hairy. Leaves deciduous; petiole 3–6 mm, hairy on adaxial surface, sometimes glandular distally, glands 1–2, ˂discoid˃; blade elliptic, 0.8–2.5 × 0.4–1.3 cm, base obtuse to rounded, margins crenulate-serrulate in distal 1/2, nearly entire on smaller leaves, teeth blunt, glandular, apex obtuse to rounded, mucronate, surfaces glabrous. Inflorescences solitary flowers. Pedicels 0–3 mm, glabrous. Flowers ˂usually bisexual with some staminate flowers on same plant˃, blooming before leaf emergence; hypanthium campanulate, 2–3 mm, glabrous externally; sepals erect to spreading, ovate, 1–1.5 mm, margins entire, ˂ciliate˃, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial hairy; petals white, elliptic, 2 mm; ovaries glabrous. Drupes reddish, ovoid, 12–25 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ovoid, ± flattened.

Flowering Jan–Feb; fruiting Mar–May. Longleaf pine-turkey oak sandhills, pine-evergreen oak scrub; of conservation concern; 10–50 m; Fla.

Prunus geniculata is known only from the Lake Wales Ridge in central Florida. Much of its original habitat has been lost to residential, recreational, and agricultural development; it received federal listing as an endangered species in 1987.