Prunus cerasifera |
Prunus andersonii |
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cherry plum, myrobalan, myrobalan plum, purple leaf plum |
desert almond, desert peach |
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Habit | Trees, sometimes suckering, 40–80 dm, not or slightly thorny. | Shrubs, suckering unknown, much branched, 10–20(–30) dm, thorny. |
Twigs | with axillary end buds, glabrous. |
with axillary end buds, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent. |
Leaves | deciduous; petiole 5–20 mm, glabrous except for a few hairs on adaxial surface, eglandular; blade ovate, elliptic, or obovate, 3–7 × 1.5–3.5 cm, base obtuse, margins singly to doubly crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex obtuse to acute, abaxial surface hairy along midribs and veins, adaxial glabrous. |
deciduous; ± sessile; blade narrowly elliptic, obovate, oblanceolate, or spatulate, 1–3 × 0.2–0.6 cm, base long-attenuate, margins usually serrulate, sometimes obscurely, teeth blunt, inconspicuously glandular, apex usually acute, sometimes obtuse, surfaces usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent. |
Inflorescences | usually solitary flowers, sometimes 2-flowered fascicles. |
solitary flowers or 2-flowered fascicles. |
Pedicels | (4–)10–18 mm, glabrous. |
(1–)4–12 mm, glabrous. |
Flowers | blooming before leaf emergence; hypanthium campanulate, 2–4 mm, glabrous externally; sepals reflexed to spreading, oblong-ovate, 2–4 mm, margins glandular-toothed to nearly entire, eciliate, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial hairy at bases; petals white (reddish pink in cultivars), elliptic to suborbiculate, 7–14 mm; ovaries glabrous. |
blooming at leaf emergence; hypanthium campanulate, 3–4 mm, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent externally; sepals spreading, triangular, 1.5–2.5 mm, margins sparsely glandular-toothed, ciliate, surfaces glabrate; petals usually dark pink, sometimes nearly white, elliptic, obovate, or suborbiculate, (5–)8–11 mm; ovaries hairy. |
Drupes | purple-red to yellow, sometimes glaucous, ovoid, ellipsoid, or globose, 15–30 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ellipsoid to ovoid, ± to strongly flattened. |
greenish yellow to red-orange, globose to asymmetrically obovoid, compressed, 10–18 mm, base cuneate-stipitate, apex mucronate, densely puberulent; hypanthium persistent; mesocarps leathery to dry (often splitting); stones ellipsoid to subglobose, ± flattened. |
2n | = 16. |
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Prunus cerasifera |
Prunus andersonii |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–Apr; fruiting Jun–Aug. | Flowering Mar–May; fruiting Jun–Aug. |
Habitat | Roadsides, stream banks, canyons, chaparral | Dry rocky slopes, washes, canyons, sagebrush scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands |
Elevation | 0–900 m (0–3000 ft) | 900–2600 m (3000–8500 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; ID; MA; MD; NH; NY; OH; OR; PA; WA; BC; ON; se Europe [Introduced in North America]
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CA; NV
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Discussion | The purple-leaved, pink-flowered cultivars of Prunus cerasifera are especially popular for ornamental use. The earliest purple form was introduced into European gardens about 1880 by M. Pissard, gardener to the Shah of Iran. Prunus cerasifera is widely used as a rootstock for commercial plums. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Prunus andersonii inhabits the Great Basin Desert region of central and western Nevada, ranging westward into California to the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada from Modoc County south to Inyo County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 375. | FNA vol. 9, p. 373. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Ehrhart: Gartenkalender 4: 192. (1784) | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 7: 337. (1868) |
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