Prunus cerasifera
Prunus speciosa
cherry plum, myrobalan, myrobalan plum, purple leaf plum
Japanese flowering or oriental cherry
with axillary end buds, glabrous.
with terminal end buds, glabrous.
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 7–45 mm, glabrous, glandular, glands 2–4, discoid;
blade elliptic to obovate, 5–17 × 3–8 cm, base obtuse to rounded, margins singly to doubly serrate, teeth aristate, glandular, apex caudate, surfaces glabrous.
usually solitary flowers, sometimes 2-flowered fascicles.
(2–)3–5(–6)-flowered, corymbs;
central axes 5–25(–60) mm.
(4–)10–18 mm, glabrous.
10–40 mm (subtended by leafy bracts), glabrous or sparsely hairy.
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 tubular, 4–8 mm, glabrous externally;
sepals spreading to reflexed, oblong-ovate to lanceolate, 3–8 mm, margins entire or toothed, eglandular, surfaces glabrous;
petals white or pink, suborbiculate to oblong-obovate, 8–18 mm;
ovaries glabrous.
purple-red to yellow, sometimes glaucous, ovoid, ellipsoid, or globose, 15–30 mm, glabrous;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones ellipsoid to ovoid, ± to strongly flattened.
black, globose, 10–13 mm, glabrous;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones ellipsoid, slightly flattened.
= 16.
= 16 (Japan).
Prunus cerasifera
Prunus speciosa
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.)
The name Prunus serrulata has been widely applied to P. speciosa by North American botanists and horticulturalists (for example, P. G. Russell 1934; A. J. Rehder 1940); some Japanese cherry experts now circumscribe P. serrulata more narrowly so that it includes only the white-petaled, double-flowered cultivars closely resembling the nomenclatural type. The single-flowered plants that are found escaping rarely and perhaps naturalizing in the flora area have been called P. lannesiana (Carrière) E. H. Wilson forma albida (Makino) E. H. Wilson or P. speciosa. Based on principal components analysis of 35 morphological characters from 468 individuals of the P. serrulata complex and related taxa, K. S. Chang et al. (2007) argued that forma albida is distinctive and separated from other taxa of the P. serrulata complex. H. Ohba (2001) recognized it at species rank as Cerasus speciosa (Koidzumi) H. Ohba. The classification and nomenclature of Japanese flowering cherries are complex, convoluted, and subject to varying interpretations, and no attempt is made to resolve them here. Centuries of selection and hybridization have blurred species distinctions, and it may be best to do as horticulturalists have and forsake botanical species names in favor of traditional and cultivar names. Whatever the name, these Japanese flowering cherries are widely grown as ornamentals where winters are not too cold nor summers too hot; they escape only rarely and have been found naturalizing only near planted specimens.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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