Prunus cerasus |
Prunus dulcis |
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cerisier acide, cultivated sour cherry, pie cherry, sour cherry |
almond, almond tree, amandier, sweet almond |
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Habit | Shrubs or trees, suckering, 30–50(–80) dm, not thorny. | Trees, not suckering, 50–80 dm, not thorny. |
Twigs | with terminal end buds, glabrous. |
with terminal end buds, glabrous. |
Leaves | deciduous; petiole 10–24 mm, glabrous, usually eglandular, sometimes with discoid marginal glands at bases of blades; blade broadly elliptic to ovate or obovate, 4.4–6(–8) × 2.8–4(–6) cm, base obtuse to rounded, margins doubly crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex acute to abruptly acuminate, abaxial surface glabrous or glabrate, adaxial glabrous. |
deciduous; petiole (8–)10–25 mm, usually winged distally, glabrous, usually glandular distally or on margins at bases of blades; blade oblong to lanceolate, 2.5–10 × 1–3 cm, base obtuse, margins crenulate-serrulate to crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex acuminate, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | 1–4-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
solitary flowers or 2-flowered fascicles. |
Pedicels | 8–37 mm, glabrous. |
1–5 mm, glabrous. |
Flowers | blooming at leaf emergence; hypanthium tubular-campanulate, 4–6 mm, glabrous externally; sepals reflexed, oblong, 4–7 mm, margins regularly glandular-toothed, surfaces glabrous; petals white, suborbiculate, 10–14 mm; ovaries glabrous. |
blooming before leaf emergence; hypanthium cupulate, 4–7 mm, glabrous externally; sepals erect-spreading to spreading, oblong-ovate, 4–8 mm, margins entire, tomentose, surfaces glabrous; petals pink to nearly white, obovate, elliptic, or suborbiculate, 12–25 mm; ovaries hairy. |
Drupes | bright red, globose, 13–20 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones subglobose, not flattened. |
gray-green, ovoid-oblong, compressed, 25–40 mm, velutinous; mesocarps leathery (splitting); stones ellipsoid, strongly flattened, pitted. |
2n | = 32. |
= 16. |
Prunus cerasus |
Prunus dulcis |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–May; fruiting Jun–Jul. | Flowering Feb–Mar; fruiting Jul–Sep. |
Habitat | Roadsides, thickets, woodland borders, abandoned fields | Roadsides, canyons, grasslands |
Elevation | 0–1000 m (0–3300 ft) | 20–500 m (100–1600 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; CA; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; VA; VT; WA; WV; BC; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
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CA; ID; WA; w Asia; n Africa [Introduced in North America]
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Discussion | Cultivars of Prunus cerasus with doubled flowers are used as landscape ornamentals. Most of the commercial sour cherry crop in North America comes from Michigan. Unlike sweet cherry, all widely grown varieties of sour cherry are self-fertile. Bud scales at the bases of the pedicels on flowering and immature fruiting specimens of P. cerasus often have leaflike apices and the inner scales are erect; in P. avium the scales are not leaflike and the inner ones are reflexed or spreading. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The United States now dominates world almond production with over 40% of the annual crop, all of it grown in or near the Central Valley of California. The in-shell “nuts” sold in stores are the pits of drupes with the leathery mesocarp removed. Almond is among the earliest blossoming trees and one of the first signs of spring in areas where it is grown. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 368. | FNA vol. 9, p. 372. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Amygdalus dulcis, A. communis, P. amygdalus | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 474. (1753) | (Miller) D. A. Webb: Feddes Repert. 74: 24. (1967) |
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