This is the garden plum and although we saw only flowers on the tree in Guernsey and at Southport, later on in summer the tree bears large edible fruits. At Southport they are Victoria plums. The flowers and the habit of the tree look similar to P. domestica ssp insititia (Wild Plum) but at the end of the season that tree has the small oval fruits which we call Damsons. Damsons also quite often fail to drop after ripening so the P. domestica ssp insititia will quite often have the small, shrivelled remains of damsons still hanging on the branches while genuine plum trees frequently lose their fruit to birds before it has even ripened.

The distribution of this species looks odd until you realise that in England it centres around the fruit growing areas of the country. It is dotted around in Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

LHS: Forest Church, Guernsey 16th April 2005 RHS: Southport dunes, 28th April 2006

Added on November 15th 2005, updated 26th July 2011