Prunus pensylvanica
Prunus cerasus
bird cherry, cerisier de pennsylvanie, fire cherry, petit merisier, pin cherry, pin or bird or fire cherry
cerisier acide, cultivated sour cherry, pie cherry, sour cherry
with terminal end buds, glabrous.
with terminal end buds, glabrous.
deciduous;
petiole (7–)9–20 mm, glabrous, glandular distally, glands 1–3;
blade elliptic, oblong-lanceolate, or lanceolate, (2.5–)4.5–10(–14) × 1.5–5 cm, base cuneate to rounded, margins crenulate to crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex usually acuminate, sometimes acute (western specimens), 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.
2–5(–8)-flowered, umbellate fascicles or corymbs;
central axes 0–8(–24) mm.
1–4-flowered, umbellate fascicles.
(8–)10–30 mm (subtended by minute bracts), glabrous.
8–37 mm, glabrous.
blooming at leaf emergence;
hypanthium obconic, 1.8–3 mm, glabrous externally;
sepals reflexed, oblong, 1.2–2.8 mm, margins entire, surfaces glabrous;
petals white, elliptic, obovate, or suborbiculate, 4–7 mm;
ovaries glabrous.
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.
bright red, ellipsoid, 6–10 mm, glabrous;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones ellipsoid, not flattened.
bright red, globose, 13–20 mm, glabrous;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones subglobose, not flattened.
= 16.
= 32.
Prunus pensylvanica
Prunus cerasus
Throughout most of its range, Prunus pensylvanica appears distinct from P. emarginata. The leaves of P. pensylvanica are generally larger and lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate rather than oblanceolate to elliptic; the leaf apices are usually acuminate (sometimes acute) versus rounded to obtuse (rarely acute) in P. emarginata. Inflorescences of P. pensylvanica are corymbose to umbellate with central axes shorter than pedicels; in P. emarginata the inflorescences are corymbose to racemose with central axes longer than pedicels. Where their ranges overlap in British Columbia and western Montana, intermediates are found with the corymbose inflorescence of P. emarginata and leaves more comfortably accommodated within the variation of P. pensylvanica. Some of these specimens have been identified as P. corymbulosa, based on a type from Montana, here included within P. pensylvanica.
Along the eastern slopes of the Rockies and throughout the northwestern Great Plains, Prunus pensylvanica is shrubby and has smaller leaves (less than 60 mm) than it does farther east. Compared to leaves of eastern plants, those of western specimens are also broader in proportion to their length (1.7–2.3:1 versus 2–4.3:1), have acute rather than acuminate apices, and tend to be more coarsely toothed. Although sometimes segregated as var. saximontana, or subsp. corymbulosa, when having a corymbose inflorescence, these plants fit within the variation in plant habit, leaf size, leaf shape, and margin serration seen throughout the broad range of P. pensylvanica.
(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.)
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