Prunus cerasifera |
Prunus texana |
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cherry plum, myrobalan, myrobalan plum, purple leaf plum |
peachbush, Texas wild peach |
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Habit | Trees, sometimes suckering, 40–80 dm, not or slightly thorny. | Shrubs, sometimes suckering, much branched, 5–15 dm, sometimes weakly thorny. |
Twigs | with axillary end buds, glabrous. |
with axillary end buds, tomentose. |
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 1–4 mm, tomentose, eglandular; blade elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 1.1–4 × 0.4–1.1 cm, base cuneate to obtuse, margins dentate, teeth blunt, glandular, glands discoid, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded, abaxial surface hairy to canescent, adaxial hairy. |
Inflorescences | usually solitary flowers, sometimes 2-flowered fascicles. |
solitary flowers or 2-flowered fascicles. |
Pedicels | (4–)10–18 mm, glabrous. |
1–5 mm, tomentose. |
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 or at leaf emergence; hypanthium campanulate, 2 mm, tomentose externally; sepals reflexed, triangular, 1–1.7 mm, margins glandular-toothed, surfaces tomentose; petals white, elliptic, 3–5 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. |
usually yellow to greenish yellow, sometimes tinged with red, ovoid, compressed, 8–15 mm, velutinous; hypanthium tardily deciduous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ovoid, ± flattened. |
2n | = 16. |
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Prunus cerasifera |
Prunus texana |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–Apr; fruiting Jun–Aug. | Flowering Feb–Mar; fruiting Apr–Jun. |
Habitat | Roadsides, stream banks, canyons, chaparral | Deep sand, plains and sand hills, grasslands, oak woods |
Elevation | 0–900 m (0–3000 ft) | 0–200 m (0–700 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; ID; MA; MD; NH; NY; OH; OR; PA; WA; BC; ON; se Europe [Introduced in North America]
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TX |
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 texana is endemic to south-central Texas from the Edwards Plateau southeast to the coastal plain. Despite the peachlike fruits of Prunus texana, DNA evidence supports its placement among the native American plums (J. Shaw and R. L. Small 2005). The leaf margins look like those of no other North American species of Prunus. The teeth project perpendicular to the margins and are capped with disc-shaped glands. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 375. | FNA vol. 9, p. 377. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Amygdalus glandulosa | |
Name authority | Ehrhart: Gartenkalender 4: 192. (1784) | D. Dietrich: Syn. Pl. 3: 45. (1842) — not Prunus glandulosa Thunberg 1784 |
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