Prunus cerasifera |
Prunus mahaleb |
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cherry plum, myrobalan, myrobalan plum, purple leaf plum |
Mahaleb cherry, Mahaleb or perfumed or St. Lucie cherry, perfumed cherry, St. Lucie cherry |
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Habit | Trees, sometimes suckering, 40–80 dm, not or slightly thorny. | Shrubs or trees, not suckering, 30–150 dm, not thorny. |
Twigs | with axillary end buds, glabrous. |
with terminal end buds, densely 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; petiole 4–20 mm, glabrous or ± puberulent on adaxial surface, sometimes glandular distally, glands 1–2, discoid; blade broadly ovate, oblong, or suborbiculate, 1.9–4.5 × 1.2–3.4 cm, base usually rounded to truncate, sometimes subcordate, margins crenate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex abruptly acuminate, apicula obtuse, surfaces usually glabrous, sometimes midribs and veins hairy abaxially. |
Inflorescences | usually solitary flowers, sometimes 2-flowered fascicles. |
4–10-flowered, corymbs; central axes 8–40 mm. |
Pedicels | (4–)10–18 mm, glabrous. |
6–18 mm (subtended by leafy bracts), 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 conic-campanulate, 2–3 mm, glabrous externally; sepals reflexed, oblong, 1.3–2 mm, margins entire, surfaces glabrous; petals white, elliptic to obovate, 6–7 mm; ovaries glabrous. |
Drupes | purple-red to yellow, sometimes glaucous, ovoid, ellipsoid, or globose, 15–30 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ellipsoid to ovoid, ± to strongly flattened. |
dark red to black, ovoid, 6–10 mm, glabrous; mesocarps leathery; stones ellipsoid to subglobose, ± flattened. |
2n | = 16. |
= 16. |
Prunus cerasifera |
Prunus mahaleb |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–Apr; fruiting Jun–Aug. | Flowering Apr–May; fruiting Jun–Jul. |
Habitat | Roadsides, stream banks, canyons, chaparral | Roadsides, stream banks, limestone bluffs and quarries, lowland thickets and woods, fencerows, chaparral |
Elevation | 0–900 m (0–3000 ft) | 0–2300 m (0–7500 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; ID; MA; MD; NH; NY; OH; OR; PA; WA; BC; ON; se Europe [Introduced in North America]
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AL; AR; CA; CT; DC; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; MI; MO; MT; NC; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; TN; UT; VA; WA; WV; BC; ON; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
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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 mahaleb was introduced to North America as a rootstock for commercial cherries and is now sometimes cultivated for its attractive and fragrant flowers. At one time, the aromatic wood was a favorite for tobacco pipes. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 375. | FNA vol. 9, p. 366. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Ehrhart: Gartenkalender 4: 192. (1784) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 474. (1753) |
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