Prunus cerasifera |
Prunus fremontii |
|
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cherry plum, myrobalan, myrobalan plum, purple leaf plum |
desert apricot |
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Habit | Trees, sometimes suckering, 40–80 dm, not or slightly thorny. | Shrubs, suckering unknown, much branched, 10–40 dm, thorny. |
Twigs | with axillary end buds, glabrous. |
with axillary end buds, glabrous. |
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; petiole 1–7 mm, glabrous, eglandular; blade elliptic, ovate, or suborbiculate, 0.6–3 × 0.5–2 cm, base obtuse to rounded, subcordate, or truncate, margins obscurely crenulate, crenulate-serrulate, or serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex usually obtuse to rounded, sometimes emarginate, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | usually solitary flowers, sometimes 2-flowered fascicles. |
1–3-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
Pedicels | (4–)10–18 mm, glabrous. |
2–12 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, 2–4 mm, glabrous externally; sepals erect-spreading, semicircular to ovate, 1.2–4 mm, margins glandular-toothed, ciliate, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial hairy; petals usually white, sometimes pinkish rose, elliptic, obovate, or suborbiculate, 3–10 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. |
yellowish, ellipsoid-ovoid, 8–15 mm, densely puberulent; mesocarps leathery to dry (splitting); stones ovoid, ± flattened. |
2n | = 16. |
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Prunus cerasifera |
Prunus fremontii |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–Apr; fruiting Jun–Aug. | Flowering Jan–Mar; fruiting Apr–Jun. |
Habitat | Roadsides, stream banks, canyons, chaparral | Dry, sandy or rocky slopes, canyons, desert, chaparral, pinyon-juniper woodlands |
Elevation | 0–900 m (0–3000 ft) | 200–1500 m (700–4900 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; Mexico (Baja California)
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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 fremontii is known only from the western edge of the Sonoran Desert. (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 | ||
Synonyms | P. eriogyna | |
Name authority | Ehrhart: Gartenkalender 4: 192. (1784) | S. Watson: in W. H. Brewer et al., Bot. California 2: 442. (1880) |
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