Prunus cerasifera |
Prunus mexicana |
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cherry plum, myrobalan, myrobalan plum, purple leaf plum |
bigtree plum, Mexican plum |
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Habit | Trees, sometimes suckering, 40–80 dm, not or slightly thorny. | Trees, rarely suckering, 30–120 dm, sparsely thorny. |
Twigs | with axillary end buds, glabrous. |
with axillary end buds, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy. |
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 4–18 mm, hairy, rarely only adaxially, usually glandular distally, glands 1–2(–4); blade usually elliptic, sometimes broadly elliptic, obovate, ovate, or oblong, 6–12 × 3–7 cm, base usually obtuse to broadly rounded, sometimes subcordate, margins coarsely, doubly serrate, teeth sharp, eglandular, apex usually abruptly acuminate to acuminate, rarely acute, abaxial surface densely hairy, adaxial rugose, glabrous or hairy. |
Inflorescences | usually solitary flowers, sometimes 2-flowered fascicles. |
2–5-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
Pedicels | (4–)10–18 mm, glabrous. |
4–20 mm, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely hairy. |
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 before leaf emergence; hypanthium obconic, 2–4.5 mm, glabrous or hairy externally; sepals reflexed, ovate to lanceolate, 1.5–4 mm, margins entire or irregularly or obscurely glandular-toothed, sometimes 2-fid at apices, ciliate, surfaces hairy; petals white, sometimes turning pink, elliptic to obovate, 5–10 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. |
purplish red to dark blue, glaucous, subglobose to ellipsoid, 15–30 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ovoid-ellipsoid, strongly flattened. |
2n | = 16. |
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Prunus cerasifera |
Prunus mexicana |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–Apr; fruiting Jun–Aug. | Flowering Mar–Apr; fruiting Aug–Oct. |
Habitat | Roadsides, stream banks, canyons, chaparral | Stream bottoms, open woods, edges of woods |
Elevation | 0–900 m (0–3000 ft) | 10–400 m (0–1300 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; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; OK; TN; TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas)
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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.) |
As L. H. Shinners (1956b) pointed out, plums from Texas determined as Prunus americana var. lanata Sudworth are not P. americana but P. mexicana. This was extrapolated by others to mean that all hairy americana-type plums, which had been called var. lanata, are P. mexicana. As a consequence, P. mexicana is often listed from states far from where it truly occurs (for example, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin) and herbarium sheets of hairy P. americana can often be found filed under P. mexicana. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 375. | FNA vol. 9, p. 379. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Ehrhart: Gartenkalender 4: 192. (1784) | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 17: 353. (1882) |
Web links |
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