Indian Plum / Osoberry

Indian Plum or Osoberry(Osmaronia cerasiformis) or (Oemleria cerasiformis) is a deciduous, multi-stemmed shrub that can reach up to about 16 feet (5m) tall, and spreads by suckers. It likes dry to moist open woods, and it makes a really pretty shrub in the garden, but you need to cut back any suckers that come up, unless you want it to spread. It flowers in early spring, and is a good plant for pollinators and hummingbirds. The plant is dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers form on different plants, so if you want fruit you will need at least one of each. The fruit is peach coloured to purple/blue, and is edible, but bitter. The leaves are broadly lanced shaped, smoothed edged, and grow up to about 4 1/2 inches (12cm) long. The flowers appear before or at the same time as the new leaves emerge.