Prunus nigra |
Prunus andersonii |
|
---|---|---|
black plum, Canada plum, Canadian plum, prunier noir |
desert almond, desert peach |
|
Habit | Shrubs or trees, sometimes suckering, 30–90 dm, moderately thorny. | Shrubs, suckering unknown, much branched, 10–20(–30) dm, thorny. |
Twigs | with axillary end buds, usually glabrous, rarely hairy. |
with axillary end buds, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent. |
Leaves | 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. |
deciduous; ± sessile; blade narrowly elliptic, obovate, oblanceolate, or spatulate, 1–3 × 0.2–0.6 cm, base long-attenuate, margins usually serrulate, sometimes obscurely, teeth blunt, inconspicuously glandular, apex usually acute, sometimes obtuse, surfaces usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent. |
Inflorescences | 2–4-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
solitary flowers or 2-flowered fascicles. |
Pedicels | 7–20 mm, usually glabrous, rarely hairy. |
(1–)4–12 mm, glabrous. |
Flowers | 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. |
blooming at leaf emergence; hypanthium campanulate, 3–4 mm, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent externally; sepals spreading, triangular, 1.5–2.5 mm, margins sparsely glandular-toothed, ciliate, surfaces glabrate; petals usually dark pink, sometimes nearly white, elliptic, obovate, or suborbiculate, (5–)8–11 mm; ovaries hairy. |
Drupes | red, orange, or yellowish, barely glaucous, globose to ellipsoid, 15–30 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ovoid-ellipsoid, strongly flattened. |
greenish yellow to red-orange, globose to asymmetrically obovoid, compressed, 10–18 mm, base cuneate-stipitate, apex mucronate, densely puberulent; hypanthium persistent; mesocarps leathery to dry (often splitting); stones ellipsoid to subglobose, ± flattened. |
2n | = 16. |
|
Prunus nigra |
Prunus andersonii |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun; fruiting Aug–Sep. | Flowering Mar–May; fruiting Jun–Aug. |
Habitat | Borders of deciduous woods, bottomland forests, roadside thickets | Dry rocky slopes, washes, canyons, sagebrush scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands |
Elevation | 10–800 m (0–2600 ft) | 900–2600 m (3000–8500 ft) |
Distribution |
CT; IA; IL; IN; MA; ME; MI; MN; ND; NH; NY; OH; VT; WI; MB; NB; NS; ON; QC
|
CA; NV
|
Discussion | 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.) |
Prunus andersonii inhabits the Great Basin Desert region of central and western Nevada, ranging westward into California to the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada from Modoc County south to Inyo County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 379. | FNA vol. 9, p. 373. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 165. (1789) | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 7: 337. (1868) |
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