Prunus armeniaca |
Prunus cerasus |
|
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albaricoque, apricot, damasco, Siberian apricot |
cerisier acide, cultivated sour cherry, pie cherry, sour cherry |
|
Habit | Trees, not suckering, 50–100 dm, not thorny. | Shrubs or trees, suckering, 30–50(–80) dm, not thorny. |
Twigs | with axillary end buds, glabrous. |
with terminal end buds, glabrous. |
Leaves | deciduous; petiole (12–)20–45 mm, glabrous, glandular distally or on margins at bases of blades, glands 1–5; blade broadly ovate to suborbiculate, (3–)5–9 × (2–)4–8 cm, base usually obtuse to rounded, sometimes truncate or subcordate, margins singly to doubly crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex abruptly short-acuminate, abaxial surface with tufts of hairs in vein axils, adaxial glabrous. |
deciduous; petiole 10–24 mm, glabrous, usually eglandular, sometimes with discoid marginal glands at bases of blades; blade broadly elliptic to ovate or obovate, 4.4–6(–8) × 2.8–4(–6) cm, base obtuse to rounded, margins doubly crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex acute to abruptly acuminate, abaxial surface glabrous or glabrate, adaxial glabrous. |
Inflorescences | solitary flowers. |
1–4-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
Pedicels | 1–3 mm, hairy. |
8–37 mm, glabrous. |
Flowers | blooming before leaf emergence; hypanthium tubular-campanulate, 4–6 mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy externally; sepals reflexed, oblong-ovate, 4–6 mm, margins remotely glandular-toothed, surfaces sparsely hairy; petals white (pink in bud), broadly elliptic to suborbiculate, 8–12 mm; ovaries hairy. |
blooming at leaf emergence; hypanthium tubular-campanulate, 4–6 mm, glabrous externally; sepals reflexed, oblong, 4–7 mm, margins regularly glandular-toothed, surfaces glabrous; petals white, suborbiculate, 10–14 mm; ovaries glabrous. |
Drupes | yellow to orange, often tinged with red, ellipsoid to globose, laterally compressed, 25–60 mm, velutinous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ellipsoid to subglobose, strongly flattened, not pitted. |
bright red, globose, 13–20 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones subglobose, not flattened. |
2n | = 16. |
= 32. |
Prunus armeniaca |
Prunus cerasus |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Apr; fruiting May–Jul. | Flowering Apr–May; fruiting Jun–Jul. |
Habitat | Roadsides, abandoned plantings | Roadsides, thickets, woodland borders, abandoned fields |
Elevation | 20–1600 m (100–5200 ft) | 0–1000 m (0–3300 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; CO; IA; ID; KS; MI; MO; MT; NM; OR; PA; UT; VA; WA; Asia (China) [Introduced in North America]
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AK; CA; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; VA; VT; WA; WV; BC; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
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Discussion | Commercial production of apricots in North America is in the western United States, mostly in the San Joaquin Valley of California. There is little market for fresh apricots because of their extremely short shelf life; most fruits are preserved by drying. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Cultivars of Prunus cerasus with doubled flowers are used as landscape ornamentals. Most of the commercial sour cherry crop in North America comes from Michigan. Unlike sweet cherry, all widely grown varieties of sour cherry are self-fertile. Bud scales at the bases of the pedicels on flowering and immature fruiting specimens of P. cerasus often have leaflike apices and the inner scales are erect; in P. avium the scales are not leaflike and the inner ones are reflexed or spreading. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 375. | FNA vol. 9, p. 368. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Armeniaca vulgaris | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 474. (1753) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 474. (1753) |
Web links |
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