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cherry plum, myrobalan, myrobalan plum, purple leaf plum

Habit Trees, sometimes suckering, 40–80 dm, not or slightly thorny. Shrubs or trees, sometimes subshrubs or herbs.
Twigs

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.

alternate, sometimes opposite, simple, sometimes pinnately compound;

stipules present or absent.

Inflorescences

usually solitary flowers, sometimes 2-flowered fascicles.

Pedicels

(4–)10–18 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.

torus absent or minute;

carpels 1–5(–8), distinct or +/- connate (Maleae), free or +/- adnate to hypanthium (many Maleae), styles distinct or +/- connate (some Maleae);

ovules (1 or)2(–5+), collateral, clustered, or biseriate.

Fruits

follicles aggregated or not, capsules, drupes aggregated or not, aggregated drupelets, pomes, or aggregated nutlets, rarely achenes or aggregated achenes;

styles persistent or deciduous, not elongate (elongate in Gillenieae).

Drupes

purple-red to yellow, sometimes glaucous, ovoid, ellipsoid, or globose, 15–30 mm, glabrous;

mesocarps fleshy;

stones ellipsoid to ovoid, ± to strongly flattened.

x

= 8, 9, 15, 17.

2n

= 16.

Prunus cerasifera

Rosaceae subfam. amygdaloideae

Phenology Flowering Feb–Apr; fruiting Jun–Aug.
Habitat Roadsides, stream banks, canyons, chaparral
Elevation 0–900 m (0–3000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MA; MD; NH; NY; OH; OR; PA; WA; BC; ON; se Europe [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
HI; North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; Europe; Asia; Africa; Atlantic Islands (Madeira); Australia
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.)

Cyanogenic glycosides are usually present in Amygdaloideae; sorbitol is present.

The name Amygdaloideae Arnott (1832) has priority over Spiraeoideae Arnott (1832), used by D. Potter et al. (2007), because Amygdalaceae (1820) is an earlier conserved name.

Tribes 9, genera 55, species ca. 1300 (9 tribes, 38 genera, 361 species, including 20 hybrids, in the flora)

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 9, p. 375. FNA vol. 9, p. 345. Author: Luc Brouillet.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus Rosaceae
Sibling taxa
P. americana, P. andersonii, P. angustifolia, P. armeniaca, P. avium, P. caroliniana, P. cerasus, P. domestica, P. dulcis, P. emarginata, P. eremophila, P. fasciculata, P. fremontii, P. geniculata, P. glandulosa, P. gracilis, P. havardii, P. hortulana, P. ilicifolia, P. laurocerasus, P. lusitanica, P. mahaleb, P. maritima, P. mexicana, P. minutiflora, P. murrayana, P. myrtifolia, P. nigra, P. padus, P. pensylvanica, P. persica, P. pumila, P. rivularis, P. serotina, P. speciosa, P. spinosa, P. subcordata, P. subhirtella, P. texana, P. tomentosa, P. umbellata, P. virginiana, P. yedoensis
Subordinate taxa
Name authority Ehrhart: Gartenkalender 4: 192. (1784) Arnott: Botany, 107. (1832)
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