Prunus fasciculata |
Prunus dulcis |
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desert almond, desert peach, wild almond |
almond, almond tree, amandier, sweet almond |
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Habit | Shrubs, suckering, much branched, 10–20(–30) dm, thorny. | Trees, not suckering, 50–80 dm, not thorny. | ||||
Twigs | with axillary end buds, glabrous or canescent. |
with terminal end buds, glabrous. |
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Leaves | deciduous; sessile; blade oblanceolate to linear, 0.5–2 × 0.1–0.2(–0.4) cm, base long-attenuate, margins nearly entire or obscurely and remotely serrulate in distal 1/3, teeth blunt to sharp, sometimes glandular, apex rounded to acute, surfaces puberulent or glabrous or low-papillate (var. punctata). |
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. |
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Inflorescences | solitary flowers or 2-flowered fascicles. |
solitary flowers or 2-flowered fascicles. |
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Pedicels | 0–4 mm, glabrous. |
1–5 mm, glabrous. |
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Flowers | unisexual, plants dioecious, blooming at leaf emergence; hypanthium campanulate, 1.5–3 mm, glabrous externally; sepals erect-spreading, triangular, 0.7–1 mm, margins entire, surfaces glabrous; petals white to yellowish, elliptic, obovate, or suborbiculate, 1.4–2.5(–4) mm; ovaries hairy. |
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. |
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Drupes | gray to red-brown, ovoid, ± compressed, 7–15 mm, densely puberulent; hypanthium tardily deciduous; mesocarps leathery to dry; stones ovoid, ± flattened. |
gray-green, ovoid-oblong, compressed, 25–40 mm, velutinous; mesocarps leathery (splitting); stones ellipsoid, strongly flattened, pitted. |
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2n | = 16. |
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Prunus fasciculata |
Prunus dulcis |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–Mar; fruiting Jul–Sep. | |||||
Habitat | Roadsides, canyons, grasslands | |||||
Elevation | 20–500 m (100–1600 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; nw Mexico
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CA; ID; WA; w Asia; n Africa [Introduced in North America]
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 370. | FNA vol. 9, p. 372. | ||||
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Emplectocladus fasciculatus | Amygdalus dulcis, A. communis, P. amygdalus | ||||
Name authority | (Torrey) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 10: 70. (1874) | (Miller) D. A. Webb: Feddes Repert. 74: 24. (1967) | ||||
Web links |
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