Prunus fasciculata |
Prunus laurocerasus |
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desert almond, desert peach, wild almond |
cherry-laurel, common cherry laurel, hedge cherry laurel, laurel cherry |
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Habit | Shrubs, suckering, much branched, 10–20(–30) dm, thorny. | Shrubs or trees, sometimes suckering, 20–60(–100) 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). |
persistent; petiole 5–15 mm, glabrous, eglandular; blade elliptic to obovate, 6–18 × 3–7 cm, base cuneate to obtuse, margins remotely serrulate or nearly entire, teeth blunt, glandular, apex abruptly short-acuminate, apicula acute, surfaces glabrous, abaxial glandular, glands 1–several, proximal, flat, circular to oval. |
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Inflorescences | solitary flowers or 2-flowered fascicles. |
26–32-flowered, racemes; central axes (35–)55–130 mm, leafless at bases. |
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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, 3–4 mm, glabrous externally; sepals spreading, triangular, 0.7–1.2 mm, margins usually entire, sometimes with deciduous glands, ciliate in spots, surfaces glabrous or hairy; petals white, obovate or broadly elliptic to suborbiculate, 3–5 mm; ovaries glabrous. |
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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. |
deep purple-red to nearly black, ovoid to conic-ovoid, 13–17 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy to leathery; stones ovoid, not flattened. |
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Prunus fasciculata |
Prunus laurocerasus |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–May; fruiting Aug–Nov. | |||||
Habitat | Riparian thickets, shaded ravines, understory of urban and second-growth forests | |||||
Elevation | 0–600 m (0–2000 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; nw Mexico
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CA; OR; WA; BC; Eurasia [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.) |
Flowering specimens of Prunus laurocerasus with small leaves and entire margins that otherwise resemble P. caroliniana can be identified by their larger hypanthia and longer petals. In fruit, the stone is much harder in P. laurocerasus and does not split open upon drying; the flesh around the stone is thicker and more succulent. (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. 362. | ||||
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Emplectocladus fasciculatus | |||||
Name authority | (Torrey) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 10: 70. (1874) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 474. (1753) | ||||
Web links |
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