Prunus angustifolia |
Prunus murrayana |
|
---|---|---|
Cherokee plum, Chickasaw plum, Chickasaw plume, Florida sand plum, sandhill plum |
Murray's plum, Murray's plume |
|
Habit | Shrubs or trees, often suckering, 10–50 dm, thorny. | Shrubs, usually suckering, 5–30(–50) dm, ± thorny. |
Twigs | with axillary end buds, glabrous. |
with axillary end buds, hairy. |
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. |
deciduous; petiole 8–16 mm, usually hairy on both surfaces, sometimes only on adaxial surface, usually glandular distally, glands 1–4; blade lanceolate to elliptic or ovate, usually folded along midribs, 3.5–7.5 × 1.5–3.5 cm, base obtuse to rounded, margins singly to doubly crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex usually acuminate, sometimes acute, abaxial surface glabrous or ± hairy along midribs and veins, adaxial glabrous. |
Inflorescences | 2–4-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
1–4-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
Pedicels | 3–10 mm, glabrous. |
4–14 mm, hairy. |
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. |
blooming at leaf emergence; hypanthium campanulate, 2–2.5 mm, hairy externally; sepals erect to reflexed, ovate, 1.5–2 mm, margins glandular-toothed, abaxial surface glabrate or hairy, adaxial densely hairy at bases; petals white, obovate, 4–8 mm; ovaries glabrous. |
Drupes | red to yellow, lightly glaucous, globose to ellipsoid, 15–20 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ovoid, ± flattened. |
red with white dots, slightly to quite glaucous, globose, 10–18 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ovoid, ± flattened. |
2n | = 16. |
|
Prunus angustifolia |
Prunus murrayana |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–Apr; fruiting May–Aug. | Flowering Mar–Apr; fruiting Jul–Aug. |
Habitat | Thickets, upland sandy soil, open woods, sand dunes, fence rows, pastures, roadsides, stream bottoms | Rocky stream banks, canyons, dry washes, fence rows |
Elevation | 0–600 m (0–2000 ft) | 500–1500 m (1600–4900 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
|
TX |
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 murrayana was long known only from trans-Pecos Texas. M. F. Enquist (1997) expanded the range by recognizing the similarity of these plants to plants from the Edwards Plateau, which he described as a hairy variety of P. rivularis and placed P. murrayana in synonymy. Sequence analysis of DNA from some of the same hairy plants collected by Enquist indicate that these plants are distinct from P. rivularis and are most similar to P. hortulana (J. R. Rohrer et al. 2008). Prunus murrayana is a smaller plant than P. hortulana, with smaller leaves and fruits. Also, P. murrayana suckers to form shrubby thickets; P. hortulana generally forms single trees. The twigs, pedicels, and hypanthium exteriors are hairy in P. murrayana and glabrous in P. hortulana. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 381. | FNA vol. 9, p. 382. |
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 | P. rivularis var. pubescens |
Name authority | Marshall: Arbust. Amer., 111. (1785) | E. J. Palmer: J. Arnold Arbor. 10: 38. (1929) |
Web links |