[XBXJNKY]

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g32/vegasflyby/tree.jpg

Can anyone ID this tree? I think it's some sort of crab apple or cherry tree. It produces a pitted fruit that looks just like a cherry but it extremely sour. I've lived in my home for five years and didn't even know this tree had fruit! Can you tell I don't do the gardening?

It seems my little Sigmund has taken a liking to to it. I found him eating it tonight and has come down with some diarrhea. I can't seem to find any pictures online that match this tree. I just want to make sure what he's gotten into isn't poisoness.

I've picked up all the fruit off the ground and tree so he wont be eating any more.

Thanks!

 

[DaisysMom]

It looks a lot like a plum tree in that picture, but plums usually aren't sour.

 

[Joni]

it could be a sour cherry tree ?

 

[XBXJNKY]

I was thinking sour cherry, too. As long as Sig stops eating them the diarrhea should clear up, right? (first time dad).

 

[Zookeeper]

This is actually a Krauter Vesuvius Flowering Plum. I only know this because there are a ton around here (hot and dry weather, they thrive on it), and our neighbor has one. They do produce little plums (not much bigger than a walnut shell) with sour skins, but we have eaten them before. Here's a pic on a website:
http://www.treetownusa.com/productpdf/6.pdf

When the fruit is small, cherry size, it is VERY sour. When we first moved in, my friend thought it was a cherry tree and popped one off and ate it. Eww.

Now Roscoe and Cassie have eaten these in the past (not too often, though....they are picky about their fruit), but they also ate the apricots off our tree. I have read that the seeds of pitted fruit are dangerous because they contain a small amount of cyanide. So this year, Dave took as many branches off the neighbor's tree as possible and we are doing daily apricot/plum patrol to keep them out of Duke's mouth. He did get one of the plums last week and tried to bite it and I got it away from him before he ate it.