Prunus fremontii |
Prunus cerasus |
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desert apricot |
cerisier acide, cultivated sour cherry, pie cherry, sour cherry |
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Habit | Shrubs, suckering unknown, much branched, 10–40 dm, thorny. | Shrubs or trees, suckering, 30–50(–80) dm, not thorny. |
Twigs | with axillary end buds, glabrous. |
with terminal end buds, glabrous. |
Leaves | deciduous; petiole 1–7 mm, glabrous, eglandular; blade elliptic, ovate, or suborbiculate, 0.6–3 × 0.5–2 cm, base obtuse to rounded, subcordate, or truncate, margins obscurely crenulate, crenulate-serrulate, or serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex usually obtuse to rounded, sometimes emarginate, surfaces glabrous. |
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. |
Inflorescences | 1–3-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
1–4-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
Pedicels | 2–12 mm, glabrous. |
8–37 mm, glabrous. |
Flowers | blooming at leaf emergence; hypanthium campanulate, 2–4 mm, glabrous externally; sepals erect-spreading, semicircular to ovate, 1.2–4 mm, margins glandular-toothed, ciliate, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial hairy; petals usually white, sometimes pinkish rose, elliptic, obovate, or suborbiculate, 3–10 mm; ovaries hairy. |
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. |
Drupes | yellowish, ellipsoid-ovoid, 8–15 mm, densely puberulent; mesocarps leathery to dry (splitting); stones ovoid, ± flattened. |
bright red, globose, 13–20 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones subglobose, not flattened. |
2n | = 32. |
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Prunus fremontii |
Prunus cerasus |
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Phenology | Flowering Jan–Mar; fruiting Apr–Jun. | Flowering Apr–May; fruiting Jun–Jul. |
Habitat | Dry, sandy or rocky slopes, canyons, desert, chaparral, pinyon-juniper woodlands | Roadsides, thickets, woodland borders, abandoned fields |
Elevation | 200–1500 m (700–4900 ft) | 0–1000 m (0–3300 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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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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Discussion | Prunus fremontii is known only from the western edge of the Sonoran Desert. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 373. | FNA vol. 9, p. 368. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. eriogyna | |
Name authority | S. Watson: in W. H. Brewer et al., Bot. California 2: 442. (1880) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 474. (1753) |
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