Prunus pensylvanica |
Prunus yedoensis |
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bird cherry, cerisier de pennsylvanie, fire cherry, petit merisier, pin cherry, pin or bird or fire cherry |
Yoshino cherry |
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Habit | Shrubs or trees, often suckering, 20–160 dm, not thorny. | Trees, not suckering, 40–80(–160) dm, not thorny. |
Twigs | with terminal end buds, glabrous. |
with terminal end buds, sparsely hairy. |
Leaves | 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 10–20 mm, hairy, sometimes glandular distally, glands 1–2; blade elliptic-ovate to obovate, 5–12 × 2.5–7 cm, base rounded, margins doubly serrate, teeth aristate, glandular, apex acuminate, abaxial surface hairy along midribs and veins, adaxial glabrous. |
Inflorescences | 2–5(–8)-flowered, umbellate fascicles or corymbs; central axes 0–8(–24) mm. |
2–6-flowered, corymbs; central axes 4–8(–20) mm. |
Pedicels | (8–)10–30 mm (subtended by minute bracts), glabrous. |
15–25 mm (subtended by leafy bracts), hairy. |
Flowers | 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 before leaf emergence; hypanthium tubular, 7–8 mm, hairy externally; sepals spreading, ovate-lanceolate, 4–5 mm, margins glandular-toothed, abaxial surface hairy, adaxial sparsely hairy; petals white or pink, broadly elliptic to obovate, 13–15 mm; ovaries glabrous. |
Drupes | bright red, ellipsoid, 6–10 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ellipsoid, not flattened. |
black, subglobose, 7–12 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ellipsoid, not flattened. |
2n | = 16. |
= 16 (Japan). |
Prunus pensylvanica |
Prunus yedoensis |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun; fruiting Jul–Aug. | Flowering Mar–Apr; fruiting May. |
Habitat | Forming thickets along streams and lakeshores, in clearings, roadsides, burned-over areas, disturbed sites, rocky hillsides, cliffs, open forests | Abandoned plantings, disturbed sites |
Elevation | 0–2800 m (0–9200 ft) | 0–200 m (0–700 ft) |
Distribution |
CO; CT; GA; IA; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MT; NC; ND; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; SD; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; SPM
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CA; DC; WA; e Asia (Japan) [Introduced in North America] |
Discussion | 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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 367. | FNA vol. 9, p. 369. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. corymbulosa, P. pensylvanica subsp. corymbulosa, P. pensylvanica var. saximontana | |
Name authority | Linnaeus f.: Suppl. Pl., 252. (1782) | Matsumura: Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 15: 100. (1901) |
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