Prunus angustifolia |
Prunus caroliniana |
|
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Cherokee plum, Chickasaw plum, Chickasaw plume, Florida sand plum, sandhill plum |
Carolina cherry laurel or laurel cherry, Carolina laurelcherry, laurier amande |
|
Habit | Shrubs or trees, often suckering, 10–50 dm, thorny. | Shrubs or trees, not suckering, 40–120 dm, not thorny. |
Twigs | with axillary end buds, glabrous. |
with terminal end buds, glabrous. |
Leaves | deciduous; petiole 2–14 mm, usually sparsely hairy on adaxial surface, rarely glabrous or hairy on both surfaces, usually eglandular, sometimes glandular distally, glands 1–2; blade lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, usually folded along midribs, often ± falcate, 1.5–6 × 0.8–2 cm, base cuneate to obtuse, margins crenulate-serrulate, teeth blunt, glandular, glands reddish orange, conic, apex acute, abaxial surface glabrate with hairs along midribs and major veins, adaxial glabrous. |
persistent; petiole 5–8 mm, glabrous, eglandular; blade narrowly elliptic to elliptic or oblanceolate, 5–10 × 1.5–4 cm, base cuneate to obtuse, margins entire or spinose-serrate, sometimes undulate, teeth sharp, eglandular, apex usually acute to short-acuminate, sometimes obtuse-apiculate, apicula acute, surfaces glabrous, abaxial glandular, glands 2, proximal, flat, circular to oval. |
Inflorescences | 2–4-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
12–30-flowered, racemes; central axes 13–30(–43) mm, leafless at bases. |
Pedicels | 3–10 mm, glabrous. |
1–4 mm, glabrous. |
Flowers | blooming before, sometimes at, leaf emergence; hypanthium campanulate, 1.5–3 mm, usually glabrous, rarely hairy, externally; sepals erect to spreading, ovate, 1–2 mm, margins entire, sparsely ciliate, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial hairy; petals white, suborbiculate to obovate, 3–6 mm; ovaries glabrous. |
usually bisexual, proximal sometimes staminate, blooming before leaf emergence; hypanthium cupulate, 2.5–3 mm, glabrous externally; sepals spreading, semicircular, 0.5–1 mm, margins usually entire, sometimes glandular-toothed, surfaces glabrous; petals white, suborbiculate to elliptic, 1–1.5 mm; ovaries glabrous. |
Drupes | red to yellow, lightly glaucous, globose to ellipsoid, 15–20 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ovoid, ± flattened. |
black, ovoid, 9–12 mm, glabrous; mesocarps leathery; stones ovoid, not flattened, usually splitting open. |
2n | = 16. |
= 32. |
Prunus angustifolia |
Prunus caroliniana |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–Apr; fruiting May–Aug. | Flowering Feb–Apr; fruiting May–Nov. |
Habitat | Thickets, upland sandy soil, open woods, sand dunes, fence rows, pastures, roadsides, stream bottoms | Stream bottoms, thickets, wooded uplands, maritime forests, naturalizing in urban woodlands |
Elevation | 0–600 m (0–2000 ft) | 0–200 m (0–700 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; CO; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; NM; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
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AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX
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Discussion | A naturalized population of Prunus angustifolia in Santa Barbara County, California, has been extirpated. Prunus angustifolia is one of the more distinctive plum species in North America. The leaves are relatively small, usually folded along their midribs, and have relatively large, reddish orange, conic glands along the margins. When it hybridizes with other plums, the hybrids often have distinctive characteristics and have been named as species more often than hybrids not involving P. angustifolia: P. ×orthosepala Koehne (angustifolia × americana), P. ×slavinii E. J. Palmer ex Rehder (angustifolia × gracilis), P. ×utahensis Koehne (angustifolia × pumila var. besseyi); see also discussion under 42. P. rivularis. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Prunus caroliniana is a popular ornamental for screens and trimmed hedges and is widely planted in the southeastern United States because of its lustrous, dark green foliage persistent through the seasons. The species was probably common as a native plant on the southeastern barrier islands; most inland occurrences represent escapes from cultivation. It rarely escapes from cultivation in California. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 381. | FNA vol. 9, p. 361. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. angustifolia subsp. varians, P. angustifolia var. watsonii | Padus caroliniana, Lauro-cerasus caroliniana |
Name authority | Marshall: Arbust. Amer., 111. (1785) | (Miller) Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 163. (1789) |
Web links |