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Herbal Focus: Wild Plum <span class="latin">Prunus americana</span>

Herbal Focus: Wild Plum Prunus americana

Jun 3, 2025 | Herbal Focus

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that I may earn a small commission from, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I use or have used myself. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Wild Plum: Not Only a Delicious Fruit — Discover Nature’s Multi-Tasking Healer From Bloom to Bark

Wild plum isn’t just a fruit tree—it’s a time-tested herbal remedy with powerful benefits packed into its flowers, leaves, and inner bark. Traditionally used to support the kidneys and soothe sore throats, wild plum is a versatile herb with delicious fruit to boot! As a natural diuretic, it helps flush the urinary tract, making it especially helpful for UTIs and kidney stones. Infused in hot water, its petals and leaves become a comforting cold remedy, rich in antioxidants that support the immune system. Plus, thanks to its gentle astringent properties, wild plum is also a practical ally for healing wounds, calming diarrhea, and easing hemorrhoids. Whether sipped, steeped, or applied topically, this plant brings a dynamic range of healing benefits from bloom to bark.

Basic Identification

Wild plum trees are relatively small and only grow up to fifteen feet tall. The branches are often thorny and the leaves are oval-shaped, with the upper portion darker than the underside. In the spring, the tree produces lovely white flowers with five petals, which grow into small, round purplish fruits in the summer and autumn months.

wild plum tree

Where Does It Grow?

You can find wild plum growing across central and eastern areas of North America. They are tolerant of a wide variety of soils and spread throughout fields, disturbed areas, and the edge of the woods.

Edible Uses

The fruit is delicious and can be enjoyed on its own or in recipes. It makes fantastic fruit leather!

Harvesting

For the inner bark, harvest in the autumn. Spring is the best time to gather the blossoms and leaves, the latter can also be harvested in the summer months.

dropper and tincture bottle

Recipe: Wild Plum Tincture

To begin, gather one cup of plant material using equal parts flowers, leaves, and inner bark. You’ll also need enough 80-proof (or higher) alcohol to fully cover the mixture in a glass jar.

Fill the jar with the plant blend and pour in the alcohol until the herbs are completely submerged. Seal the jar with a lid and store it in a cool, dark place for 4 to 6 weeks. Shake the jar once daily to help the extraction process.

After the infusion period, strain the liquid through a fine cloth or mesh strainer and transfer it into a dropper bottle. Be sure to label it with the plant name and the date it was made.

Use 1–2 droppers full as needed to support the body’s natural release of excess water, ease hemorrhoids, or calm diarrhea. It can also be diluted in water for a gargle to help soothe a sore throat.

Medicinal Uses

The flowers, leaves, and inner bark all have medicinal properties. Traditional uses include stimulating the kidneys and bladder as a diuretic, along with treating sore throats and the common cold, and more.

Here are my top 3 uses for wild plum:

Diuretic, urinary tract infections, kidney stones. When used together, the flowers, leaves, and inner bark have diuretic properties, which help to stimulate the body to flush out the bladder and kidneys to address urinary tract infections and kidney stones.

Remedy for the common cold. When infused in hot water, the petals and leaves make an excellent remedy for colds. They are rich in immune-boosting antioxidants and vitamins to help shorten the length of illness. For an added level of support for a cold or influenza, see our convenient elderberry tincture in the apothecary.

Nicole's Apothecary Elderberry Tincture information graphic

Wounds, diarrhea, and hemorrhoids. The inner bark, leaves, and blossoms have gentle astringent properties that are useful for soothing sore throats and diarrhea, whereas a topical wash is helpful for hemorrhoids and wounds.

Nicole Apelian holding The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies Volume II

Deepen Your Knowledge of Herbal Medicine

But that’s not all. The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies II contains hundreds of plant profiles that include identification, uses, harvesting advice, and high-quality photographs. Simple recipes for a wide range of remedies are also covered. The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies II completes the first book, you’ll find only new plants and very different remedies.

apothecary botanicals and supplies

Take Charge of Your Health & Self-Sufficiency

Have you ever wanted to learn more about natural remedies so that you could keep your family healthy, but didn’t know where to begin? I hear you. The world of herbalism can be overwhelming when first starting out. Because of this, I have created an online herbal academy master course that will not only teach you about medicinal plants, but also how to prepare and use them. This course was designed to instill confidence and deepen your mastery so that you know how to handle a medical situation on a day-to-day basis or in the event of a collapse where conventional prescription and over-the-counter medicines may be hard to come by. It is the same valuable knowledge our great-grandparents had that’s almost completely lost today.

My course will give you the tools to take charge of your family’s health — whether it is a simple headache that you would like to treat naturally with plants found in your backyard or if you want to put together an herbal pharmacy kit that you can keep on hand for emergencies. The training found in my herbal academy is for anyone who would like to save money in medical costs and become more self-sufficient. It’s like having your own personal health coach and herbalist on hand 24/7!

Tap HERE to begin your herbalism journey today!

Nicole Apelian

Nicole’s Apothecary Products in this Post

Nicole's Apothecary Dual-Extracted Elderberry Tincture-04

Dual-Extracted Elderberry Tincture

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