Beach Plums

The fruit of the dunes

The beach plum, Prunus maritima, is one of several plums native to modern-day North America. The beach plum, however, is unique in that it grows in poor soil and has a high capacity for controlling erosion. The native beach plum is commonly found across the coasts of the northeastern United States but ranges from Newfoundland to North Carolina. Unsurprisingly, as a beach tree, it was one of the first New World plants the colonists saw when they came ashore in the 1600s but was documented even earlier by Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano who referred to them as “damson trees” in 1524.¹ While Indigenous groups across the coast harvested the fruit, there seems to be little evidence of management or documentation of processing from early settlers.

Arriving on the (now named) Hudson River, Henry Hudson described the shoreline as covered in beach plums. Unlike many native fruits, beach plum is known to have an extremely diverse set of genetics, causing significant differences in tree size, fruit size, flower size and color, and adaptability.² In 1785, Humphrey Marshall described the plant as “The Seaside plumb” which sported numerous flowers but little fruit and was used as an ornamental when brought to Europe.³ In 1872, the American Agriculturalist noted “The fruit varies in different plants, not only in color and size, but in quality- some specimens being quite pleasant to the taste, and others harsh and acerb.”⁴

Despite this challenge, several attempts were made during the 19th and 20th centuries to develop beach plum cultivars with consistently good fruit qualities. As of 1900, only three cultivars were identified; ‘Bassett’, ‘Alpha’, and ‘Beta’, which have all since been lost.

1900 Eastern Shore Nurseries listing of beach plum. (https://ia800900.us.archive.org/27/items/CAT31284503/CAT31284503.pdf)

Despite the work of the Soil Conservation Service, with folks like J. Milton Batchelor who scouted for high-quality varieties to bring into production, little progress was made initially, but the beginnings of change were present. This was driven largely by Liberty Hyde Bailey’s “The Cultivated Native Plums & Cherries,” which was the first real scientific work on these fruits (which also identified 140 cultivars of native plums), and following the Hatch Act, more than 70 bulletins were dedicated to the study of native plums and cherries. Researchers and breeders, primarily in the northern Great Plains, focused on collecting and identifying the best genetics for native plums, introducing over 100 varieties of native plums (not just beach plums) during this period.

Bailey led much of the research, spending considerable time at Jonathan Kerr’s orchard Eastern Shore Nurseries in Denton, Maryland, researching every variety he had in likely the most extensive trial on native plums in North America.⁵ Despite the hype by growers and breeders around all native plums, the challenge has historically been that the skins are astringent, despite the sweetness of the flesh inside.

From all of the breeding work, by 1911 the following beach plums were named: ‘alleghaniensis davisii’ (described as native to the northern Alleghenies and southern New England with calyx lobes only slightly shorter than the tube), ‘umbellata injucunda’, ‘umbellata tarda’ (both umbellata coming from southern states), ‘gravesii’, and ‘maritima’.

Batchelor wasn’t the only researcher backed by the Soil Conservation Service; John Pennypacker was also sent to scour the East Coast, flying over dunes in 1913 to identify the beach plums while in bloom to collect genetics for future research. In his thesis at the University of Pennsylvania, he identified eight varieties of beach plum taken from across the northeast and mid-Atlantic.⁶

The native plum industry as a whole had hoped that the improvements of the railway, canning (which had caused the blueberry industry to explode), and interest in new fruits would help the plums grow to a staple across the nation, but instead, the American plums were largely used to develop thicker-skinned hybrids, which gave the disease resistance of the native plums to the European plums with less astringency.⁷ Luther Burbank led this charge, including the now-famous ‘Santa Rosa’ plum, which still dominates the industry.

Batchelor, mentioned just moments ago, was assigned by the Hillculture Division of the Soil Conservation Service to travel the North Atlantic coast area in the 1930s and found three named varieties— only one of which continues to exist today for sale. ‘Hancock’ was found in Forth Hancock, NJ with a blue fruit and early maturity. It’s believed to since have been lost, but various folks in forums have claimed to have it, so it may still exist today. ‘Safford’ was found on Plum Island, MA, with heavy bearing fruit, and “Premier”, also from Plum Island, MA, which had poor resistance to brown rot but the best selection of beach plum in terms of flavor.⁸

During this same time, Wilfred Wheeler also identified ‘Eastham’, out of Eastham, MA, which had tart fruit, good for canning, and small seeds, which are still in cultivation today. Wheeler had several other selections that have since been lost, including ‘Wheeler Selection No. 6’ from Truro, Mass with exceptionally sweet fruit, ‘Arrowhead’ a blue plum, ‘Snow’, a blue plum, and an annual bearer.