Plum or Japanese plum: how to tell them apart?

Plum and Japanese plum look alike and are often mixed up. Here is how to tell them apart, feature by feature, with their photos and the details to look for.

⚡ The quick answer

Plum

Prunus domestica

Japanese plum

Prunus salicina

Two 'plum trees' with fruits of very variable colour (yellow, red, purple depending on variety), easily confused by a beginner. The plum has a stone that separates easily from the flesh, whereas the Japanese plum flowers earlier and more abundantly (often from March before the leaves, flowers in groups of 2-3) and produces generally larger, rounder and firmer fruits, with a clinging stone.

🍃 Leaves

Elliptic to obovate, toothed, slightly downy beneath

Deciduous, ovate-lanceolate, finely toothed, glossy

🌸 Flowers

White, solitary or in groups of 2-3, appearing early in spring

White, in groups of 2-3, appearing early in spring before the foliage

🍎 Fruits

Fleshy drupe (plum), purple, yellow or red depending on variety, with a flattened stone

Round to ovoid drupe, skin red, yellow or green depending on variety, juicy, sweet flesh

🪵 Bark

Greyish to dark brown, cracking into scales

Reddish-brown, horizontal lenticels

📏 Size

3 to 8 m tall

4 to 8 m tall

🗺️ Habitat

Orchards and gardens, sometimes naturalised at woodland edges

Planted in orchards, deep, free-draining soils

⚠️ Toxicity

Fruit flesh edible; the stone, leaves and bark contain amygdalin (a cyanide precursor), toxic in large quantities

Fruit edible; like other Prunus, the stone contains amygdalin and should not be eaten

🔎 And from the Japanese plum side

Two 'plum trees' with fruits of very variable colour (yellow, red, purple depending on variety), easily confused by a beginner. The Japanese plum flowers earlier and more abundantly, often from March before the leaves, with flowers in groups of 2-3; its fruits are generally larger, rounder and firmer, with a stone that clings to the flesh — unlike the stone that separates easily in the plum.

🌿 Go further

Want to practise spotting these details on real photos? Floraneo offers profiles and quizzes for dozens of look-alike species.

View the profile: Plum View the profile: Japanese plum

ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.