Anyone know what this is?

Artichoke Lover

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Found it growing in a blackberry thicket on the edge of a clearing in the pine trees. Seems to be a small tree or tall shrub the tallest was around 10-15ft. Fruit contains a pit. The last photo includes an caterpillar that was eating the immature fruit. I’m assuming it’s a native.
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Zeedman

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Looks like wild plums. The ones here tend to form thickets, and bear large numbers of 1-2" red/purple plums. Kind of thorny to walk through, even though the stubby branches are not true thorns. Some patches have larger plums than others, and some years the trees are just loaded; they make a great plum jelly. In the older patches, I can creep in from below, shake the trees, and just pick the ripe plums off the ground.
 

Zeedman

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Yes, wild plum. We pick on a neighbor’s fence row and give him jelly. He’s an old man, never married and protects those trees. He hangs Red streamers on the branches so the county crews don’t trim it back.
Over the years, my three best patches (one beside a road, two on a bike trail) have been cut down by maintenance crews. :( In my youth, I used to pick from patches along the railway just outside of town, where there were & are many. But as I found out, in these times things are different. Apparently, walking along the tracks as an adult, I'm thought to be a terrorist or something - and the police would show up. :( There was a good patch on a friend's property, but that land has now been sold... so when the trees are in bloom, I'll be driving through the coutryside looking for a new place to pick.
 

Marie2020

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Yes, wild plum. We pick on a neighbor’s fence row and give him jelly. He’s an old man, never married and protects those trees. He hangs Red streamers on the branches so the county crews don’t trim it back.
I wish I could find some wild plums. I can't find a decent plum anywhere, the shop bought are either sour or have brown flesh and are tasteless
 

Marie2020

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Marie2020

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They are related. I think damsons are believed to be a subspecies of plum native to Europe.
The last good plum tree I saw was miles away and the farmer let it be ruined by a fungus. Which I am well aware could have easily been dealt with.

When some people are left land on a plate they never seem to appreciate it. All she thought of was how much money she could make. :mad:
 

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