Prunus caroliniana
Prunus pensylvanica
Carolina cherry laurel or laurel cherry, Carolina laurelcherry, laurier amande
bird cherry, cerisier de pennsylvanie, fire cherry, petit merisier, pin cherry, pin or bird or fire cherry
with terminal end buds, glabrous.
with terminal end buds, 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.
deciduous;
petiole (7–)9–20 mm, glabrous, glandular distally, glands 1–3;
blade elliptic, oblong-lanceolate, or lanceolate, (2.5–)4.5–10(–14) × 1.5–5 cm, base cuneate to rounded, margins crenulate to crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex usually acuminate, sometimes acute (western specimens), surfaces glabrous.
12–30-flowered, racemes;
central axes 13–30(–43) mm, leafless at bases.
2–5(–8)-flowered, umbellate fascicles or corymbs;
central axes 0–8(–24) mm.
1–4 mm, glabrous.
(8–)10–30 mm (subtended by minute bracts), 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.
blooming at leaf emergence;
hypanthium obconic, 1.8–3 mm, glabrous externally;
sepals reflexed, oblong, 1.2–2.8 mm, margins entire, surfaces glabrous;
petals white, elliptic, obovate, or suborbiculate, 4–7 mm;
ovaries glabrous.
black, ovoid, 9–12 mm, glabrous;
mesocarps leathery;
stones ovoid, not flattened, usually splitting open.
bright red, ellipsoid, 6–10 mm, glabrous;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones ellipsoid, not flattened.
= 32.
= 16.
Prunus caroliniana
Prunus pensylvanica
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.)
Throughout most of its range, Prunus pensylvanica appears distinct from P. emarginata. The leaves of P. pensylvanica are generally larger and lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate rather than oblanceolate to elliptic; the leaf apices are usually acuminate (sometimes acute) versus rounded to obtuse (rarely acute) in P. emarginata. Inflorescences of P. pensylvanica are corymbose to umbellate with central axes shorter than pedicels; in P. emarginata the inflorescences are corymbose to racemose with central axes longer than pedicels. Where their ranges overlap in British Columbia and western Montana, intermediates are found with the corymbose inflorescence of P. emarginata and leaves more comfortably accommodated within the variation of P. pensylvanica. Some of these specimens have been identified as P. corymbulosa, based on a type from Montana, here included within P. pensylvanica.
Along the eastern slopes of the Rockies and throughout the northwestern Great Plains, Prunus pensylvanica is shrubby and has smaller leaves (less than 60 mm) than it does farther east. Compared to leaves of eastern plants, those of western specimens are also broader in proportion to their length (1.7–2.3:1 versus 2–4.3:1), have acute rather than acuminate apices, and tend to be more coarsely toothed. Although sometimes segregated as var. saximontana, or subsp. corymbulosa, when having a corymbose inflorescence, these plants fit within the variation in plant habit, leaf size, leaf shape, and margin serration seen throughout the broad range of P. pensylvanica.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
LA Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
BC
Go Botany
IL Wildflowers
MD Biodiversity
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
PNW Herbaria
