Prunus fremontii |
Prunus nigra |
|
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desert apricot |
black plum, Canada plum, Canadian plum, prunier noir |
|
Habit | Shrubs, suckering unknown, much branched, 10–40 dm, thorny. | Shrubs or trees, sometimes suckering, 30–90 dm, moderately thorny. |
Twigs | with axillary end buds, glabrous. |
with axillary end buds, usually glabrous, rarely hairy. |
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 8–22 mm, glabrate with hairs adaxially, sometimes glandular distally, glands 1–3, discoid; blade broadly elliptic to obovate, (5–)7–11 × 3–6.5 cm, base obtuse to rounded or subcordate, margins doubly crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex abruptly acuminate, abaxial surface hairy along midribs and major veins, adaxial glabrous. |
Inflorescences | 1–3-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
2–4-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
Pedicels | 2–12 mm, glabrous. |
7–20 mm, usually glabrous, rarely hairy. |
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 before or at leaf emergence; hypanthium red-tinged, obconic, 3–4(–5) mm, usually glabrous, rarely hairy externally; sepals broadly spreading to reflexed, ovate, 2–4(–5) mm, margins glandular-toothed, abaxial surface usually glabrous, rarely sparsely hairy, adaxial glabrous or hairy; petals white, often fading to pink, suborbiculate to oblong-obovate, 8–13 mm; ovaries glabrous. |
Drupes | yellowish, ellipsoid-ovoid, 8–15 mm, densely puberulent; mesocarps leathery to dry (splitting); stones ovoid, ± flattened. |
red, orange, or yellowish, barely glaucous, globose to ellipsoid, 15–30 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ovoid-ellipsoid, strongly flattened. |
2n | = 16. |
|
Prunus fremontii |
Prunus nigra |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jan–Mar; fruiting Apr–Jun. | Flowering Apr–Jun; fruiting Aug–Sep. |
Habitat | Dry, sandy or rocky slopes, canyons, desert, chaparral, pinyon-juniper woodlands | Borders of deciduous woods, bottomland forests, roadside thickets |
Elevation | 200–1500 m (700–4900 ft) | 10–800 m (0–2600 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
|
CT; IA; IL; IN; MA; ME; MI; MN; ND; NH; NY; OH; VT; WI; MB; NB; NS; ON; QC
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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.) |
In the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada, Prunus nigra co-occurs with, and is sometimes confused with, P. americana, despite being distinct in both flower and leaf. The red-tinged hypanthia and sepals of P. nigra give the entire inflorescence a pinkish coloration even when the petals are pure white, and the sepals bear obvious glandular teeth along their margins; in P. americana the hypanthia and sepals are green and the sepals bear relatively few glandular teeth or are eglandular. The leaf marginal teeth of P. nigra are rounded and bear glands at their tips or have callus scars where the glands fell off; those of P. americana are acute and eglandular; some may have a callused tip. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 373. | FNA vol. 9, p. 379. |
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) | Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 165. (1789) |
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