Personal Bio:

Faculty Bio: Ricky Brightman joined the Moses Brown faculty in 1975. Ricky is in the Moses Brown athletic Hall of Fame-- in recognition of her many athletic accomplishments as an athlete and coach. Ricky developed girls’ athletic programs at MB in 1976, and is also credited for participating in the creation of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League. Ricky also served as the Associate athletic director, Director of physical education, and head varsity softball coach for a number of years before retiring from Moses Brown.

Cherry Plum:

Scientific Name

Prunus cerasifera

Family

Roseaceae

Description

Cherry plum is a small to medium-sized, ornamental, deciduous tree with an upright, spreading, and rounded to vase-shaped crown and brittle wood.

Leaves are alternate, simple, 1.5–3 inches long, dark green and shiny with paler undersides, edges serrated; tip acute, base rounded, with hairs present along the veins on the undersides and glands near the petiole.

Bark is reddish-brown to dark gray, smooth with horizontal lenticels when young, becoming vertically split, irregularly ridged, and furrowed with age.

Twigs are thin, dark reddish-brown to gray and smooth, featuring spur shoots and small buds.

Flowers April, stalk short, appearing as the leaves emerge, crowded tightly along the twigs to appear clustered, not drooping; flowers fragrant, pure white (pale pink or lavender in cultivars), with 5 petals and numerous stamens.

Fruits mid to late summer, produced in low quantities; fruit up to 1¼ inches long, a smooth, round drupe, yellow or red (reddish-purple in cultivars), containing a solitary pit.

Other Common Names

Cherry Plum

Size

Height: 15 ft. 0 in. - 30 ft. 0 in.

Source: North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox