Prunus cerasifera |
Prunus fasciculata |
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cherry plum, myrobalan, myrobalan plum, purple leaf plum |
desert almond, desert peach, wild almond |
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Habit | Trees, sometimes suckering, 40–80 dm, not or slightly thorny. | Shrubs, suckering, much branched, 10–20(–30) dm, thorny. | ||||
Twigs | with axillary end buds, glabrous. |
with axillary end buds, glabrous or canescent. |
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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 oblanceolate to linear, 0.5–2 × 0.1–0.2(–0.4) cm, base long-attenuate, margins nearly entire or obscurely and remotely serrulate in distal 1/3, teeth blunt to sharp, sometimes glandular, apex rounded to acute, surfaces puberulent or glabrous or low-papillate (var. punctata). |
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Inflorescences | usually solitary flowers, sometimes 2-flowered fascicles. |
solitary flowers or 2-flowered fascicles. |
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Pedicels | (4–)10–18 mm, glabrous. |
0–4 mm, glabrous. |
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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. |
unisexual, plants dioecious, blooming at leaf emergence; hypanthium campanulate, 1.5–3 mm, glabrous externally; sepals erect-spreading, triangular, 0.7–1 mm, margins entire, surfaces glabrous; petals white to yellowish, elliptic, obovate, or suborbiculate, 1.4–2.5(–4) mm; ovaries hairy. |
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Drupes | purple-red to yellow, sometimes glaucous, ovoid, ellipsoid, or globose, 15–30 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ellipsoid to ovoid, ± to strongly flattened. |
gray to red-brown, ovoid, ± compressed, 7–15 mm, densely puberulent; hypanthium tardily deciduous; mesocarps leathery to dry; stones ovoid, ± flattened. |
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2n | = 16. |
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Prunus cerasifera |
Prunus fasciculata |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–Apr; fruiting Jun–Aug. | |||||
Habitat | Roadsides, stream banks, canyons, chaparral | |||||
Elevation | 0–900 m (0–3000 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
CA; ID; MA; MD; NH; NY; OH; OR; PA; WA; BC; ON; se Europe [Introduced in North America]
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AZ; CA; NV; UT; nw Mexico
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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.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 375. | FNA vol. 9, p. 370. | ||||
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Emplectocladus fasciculatus | |||||
Name authority | Ehrhart: Gartenkalender 4: 192. (1784) | (Torrey) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 10: 70. (1874) | ||||
Web links |
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