Prunus nigra |
Prunus minutiflora |
|
---|---|---|
black plum, Canada plum, Canadian plum, prunier noir |
Texas almond |
|
Habit | Shrubs or trees, sometimes suckering, 30–90 dm, moderately thorny. | Shrubs, suckering, much branched, 10–20 dm, weakly thorny. |
Twigs | with axillary end buds, usually glabrous, rarely hairy. |
with axillary end buds, canescent. |
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; petiole 1–2(–6) mm, glabrous, eglandular; blade elliptic or obovate, 0.5–1.6(–3.5) × 0.3–0.8(–2.1) cm, base cuneate, margins usually entire, sometimes irregularly serrulate (sometimes dentate on long shoots), teeth sharp to blunt, eglandular, some callus-tipped, apex usually obtuse to rounded, sometimes apiculate, surfaces glabrous. |
Inflorescences | 2–4-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
solitary flowers. |
Pedicels | 7–20 mm, usually glabrous, rarely hairy. |
0–2 mm, puberulent. |
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. |
unisexual, plants dioecious, blooming at leaf emergence; hypanthium campanulate, 2–3 mm, glabrous externally; sepals spreading, triangular, 0.7–1.5 mm, margins entire, surfaces glabrous; petals white, obovate, 2–3.5 mm; ovaries hairy. |
Drupes | red, orange, or yellowish, barely glaucous, globose to ellipsoid, 15–30 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ovoid-ellipsoid, strongly flattened. |
reddish brown, globose to ovoid, 9–12 mm, puberulent; hypanthium tardily deciduous; mesocarps leathery to dry (slightly splitting); stones ovoid to subglobose, not flattened. |
2n | = 16. |
|
Prunus nigra |
Prunus minutiflora |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun; fruiting Aug–Sep. | Flowering Feb–Mar; fruiting May–Jun. |
Habitat | Borders of deciduous woods, bottomland forests, roadside thickets | Dry rocky streambeds and uplands, limestone hills, ledges |
Elevation | 10–800 m (0–2600 ft) | 100–700 m (300–2300 ft) |
Distribution |
CT; IA; IL; IN; MA; ME; MI; MN; ND; NH; NY; OH; VT; WI; MB; NB; NS; ON; QC
|
TX |
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 minutiflora is a rare species limited to central Texas around the Edwards Plateau. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 379. | FNA vol. 9, p. 370. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 165. (1789) | Engelmann ex A. Gray: Boston J. Nat. Hist. 6: 185. (1850) |
Web links |