The sandhill plum is a much-branched shrub usually less than 2 m high. Thickets up to 20 m across are quickly formed by root suckers. Bright yellow-green leaves that are folded lengthwise help make sandhill plum colonies easily recognizable in the prairies of Kansas. Leaves are simple, alternate, and narrowly elliptical. Twigs are slender, red, glabrous, and often end in a spine.
Many branches grow in a distinctive zig-zag pattern.
Small white flowers emerge in early April before leaf burst. Fruits ripen from early July to late August. In 1990, we initiated a study to measure the genetic diversity of P. angustifolia in Kansas by establishing a planting of 120 seedlings. Bushes used in this study were produced from seed collected from a native plum population located near Pratt, Kansas in 1988. Fifty-nine bushes produced their first fruit crop in 1991.