Purple-leaved plum
Introduced, naturalised · Up to 8 m

Purple-leaved plum

Prunus cerasifera 'Pissardii' and 'Nigra' · Rosaceae

Purple-leaved plum is a round-headed tree planted in streets and gardens. Its leaves are maroon from spring until they fall. Pink blossom opens on shiny purple shoots in February and March.

Often mistaken for cherry plum. How to tell them apart →
Know it byLeavesUp to 7 cm, tapering both ends, with many rounded teeth.BlossomAbout 2 cm, five petals, out in February and March.PlumsUp to 4 cm, grooved down one side, one to five together.

Then check · Purple shootsSlender, smooth and shiny purple, with small buds sitting two or three together where each leaf grew.

How to identify a purple-leaved plum

Purple-leaved plum: leaves
Leaves

Maroon and oval, up to 7 cm long and tapering at both ends, with many rounded teeth and fuzzy veins underneath.

Purple-leaved plum: blossomScott Shanks, CC BY 4.0
Blossom

Pale to deep pink flowers about 2 cm across, with five petals, each on its own long stalk along shiny purple shoots. They open before or with the first leaves, in February and March.

Learn the purple-leaved plum in TreelyEvery part through the year, and a short round each day until you know it.Get Treely

Every part, in photographs

Purple-leaved plum leaves: maroon from spring, near black by late summer
LeavesMaroon from spring, near black by late summer
Purple-leaved plum blossom: pink on shiny purple shootsScott Shanks, CC BY 4.0
BlossomPink on shiny purple shoots
Purple-leaved plum plums: round purple plums, a few among the leavesAndrey Polstianoi, CC BY 4.0
PlumsRound purple plums, a few among the leaves
Purple-leaved plum shape: small round head, dark all summer
ShapeSmall round head, dark all summer

When to look

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In leaf
Flowers
Plums

In leaf: March to November · Flowers: February to March · Plums: April to September

Every tree on the calendar

Where you’ll find it

Planted in town streets, parks and gardens, as a tree and as a clipped hedge. Seedlings from planted trees are turning up more and more in the English countryside.

What it’s mistaken for

Purple-leaved plum: colour of a leafCherry plum: colour of a leafPurple-leaved plum or cherry plum?Cherry plum is the same species with green leaves, and purple-leaved plum is a garden form of it.Colour of a leaf
  • Copper beechBoth hold purple leaves right through the summer. Shape. Purple-leaved plum: a small round head, to 8 m. Copper beech: a broad dense dome, to 40 m.
  • BlackthornBlackthorn's rare garden form 'Purpurea' also has purple leaves and pink flowers. Twig. Purple-leaved plum: small, two or three where each leaf grew. Blackthorn: tiny and dark, set along the spines.

More cherries, hawthorns, rowans and apples

AppleMalus domesticaBlackthornPrunus spinosaCherry laurelPrunus laurocerasusCherry plumPrunus cerasiferaCommon whitebeamSorbus ariaCrab appleMalus sylvestrisHawthornCrataegus monogynaMidland hawthornCrataegus laevigata
In the app

There’s more of the purple-leaved plum in Treely

  • Every part, through the yearLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed in every season
  • Its lookalikes, side by sideThe checks that settle it, part by part
  • A short round each dayUntil you know the purple-leaved plum on sight, from any side
  • Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely tells you which tree
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Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.

Photographs: bobwardell (CC0), steve_mcwilliam (CC0), Scott Shanks (CC BY 4.0), Andrey Polstianoi (CC BY 4.0), Henry Miller (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.