Last updated May 17, 2023. All photos taken by the author.
The roadsides of Burnaby are full of flowering wild plum shrubs right now. With their cascading white flowers and vibrant vertical leaves they are easy to spot against a background of brown trees still waiting to leaf out. They remind me of thousands of fuzzy green butterflies resting.
Before last spring, I knew we had a native plum species in BC, but I didn’t realize that it was so abundant. Driving around at this time of year it is difficult to miss the white flowers dangling below bright green clusters of mostly vertical leaves. Once you know what to look for you will notice it everywhere. Oemleria cerasiformis is also known as Indian plum, osoberry, bird-cherry, and skunk bush. This deciduous shrub grows up to 5 m (16 feet) tall, filling in the area below taller deciduous and coniferous trees. Although I read that the flowers have “a peculiar pungent odour” I couldn’t detect it. I also read that the crushed leaves smell like cucumbers but I haven’t tried it yet.
There were at least 7 flowers and 7 leaves in each cluster that I observed.
Top view. Flowers and leaves are found along the length of each stem.
The leaves and flowers are attached alternately to the stems.
Lots of wild plum plants beside a ditch.
The bark of younger wild plum shoots is smooth and dark reddish-brown. Older bark is greyish-brown. In this photo you can see a red bud above a leaf scar near the middle of the picture. Leaf scars appear on deciduous plants when leaves fall off in the fall/winter.
The petals are nestled between the green sepals with at least 10 stamen pointing up and in, likely to ensure some pollen gets onto each pollinator that visits the flower.
Leaves point up and out, flowers cascade downwards below the leaves.
The underside of the new leaves is fuzzy and slightly whiter than the top.
This is a common sight beside Burnaby roads right now. Bare deciduous tree branches near green and white wild plum shrubs.
First Peoples did eat the fruit from these plants, fresh or dried, but not too much. The small fruit resemble cherries more than cultivated plums and are yellow when unripe and bluish black when fully ripe at the end of June. From their common name “bird-berry”, you can infer that they are a preferred food of many species of birds. DO NOT CONSUME WILD PLANTS OR FUNGI UNLESS YOU ARE 100% SURE OF THEIR IDENTITY AND PREPARATION.
So head outside this week and notice this noticeable shrub. Its vibrant green leaves and white flowers are easy to spot now. Then, try to remember where you saw them and go back in June and July to see what the fruits look like.
Walking around Deer Lake this week I saw many wild plum with green fruit and larger leaves.
Cascading clusters of unripe fruit in mid-May. They will change to orange, then red, then bluish-black in early-to-mid summer. Here’s a blog about harvesting and consuming the fruit.Fully opened leaves in mid-May. When you learn their shape and colour you will notice them everywhere. The maple-like leaves in the photo are from a thimbleberry and there is a compound leaf of a horse chestnut tree in the bottom left corner.The underside of the leaves are slightly paler than the upper surface and covered in tiny hairs.The tops of leaves are bright green in mid-May with some leaves already turning yellow and falling, likely due to our recent hot spell.
BOOKS I READ:
“Indian Plum.” The Flora and Fauna of Coastal British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest, by Collin Varner, Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd., 2018, p. 139.
“Indian Plum.” Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples, by Nancy J. Turner, Royal British Columbia Museum, 2017, pp. 114-115.
“Indian Plum.” Food Plants of Interior First Peoples, by Nancy J. Turner, Royal British Columbia Museum, 2017, p. 163.
“Oemleria cerasiformis.” Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest Third Edition, by Arthur R. Kruckeberg and Linda Chalker-Scott, Greystone Books, 2019, p. 133.
