Prunus persica
Prunus speciosa
peach, pêcher, unknown
Japanese flowering or oriental cherry
with terminal end buds, glabrous.
with terminal end buds, glabrous.
deciduous;
petiole 5–10(–15) mm, not winged, glabrous, sometimes glandular distally, glands 1–4, discoid;
blade oblong to lanceolate, folded along midribs, often falcate, (5–)7–15 × 2–4.5 cm, base cuneate to obtuse, margins crenulate-serrulate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex acuminate, surfaces glabrous.
deciduous;
petiole 7–45 mm, glabrous, glandular, glands 2–4, discoid;
blade elliptic to obovate, 5–17 × 3–8 cm, base obtuse to rounded, margins singly to doubly serrate, teeth aristate, glandular, apex caudate, surfaces glabrous.
usually solitary flowers, sometimes 2-flowered fascicles.
(2–)3–5(–6)-flowered, corymbs;
central axes 5–25(–60) mm.
0–3 mm, glabrous.
10–40 mm (subtended by leafy bracts), glabrous or sparsely hairy.
blooming before leaf emergence;
hypanthium cupulate, 4–5 mm, glabrous externally;
sepals spreading, oblong-ovate, 3.5–5 mm, margins entire, ciliate, abaxial surface hairy (especially along margins), adaxial glabrous;
petals dark pink, obovate to suborbiculate, 10–17 mm;
ovaries hairy.
blooming at leaf emergence;
hypanthium tubular, 4–8 mm, glabrous externally;
sepals spreading to reflexed, oblong-ovate to lanceolate, 3–8 mm, margins entire or toothed, eglandular, surfaces glabrous;
petals white or pink, suborbiculate to oblong-obovate, 8–18 mm;
ovaries glabrous.
yellow to orange tinged with red, globose, 40–80 mm, velutinous (glabrous in nectarines);
mesocarps fleshy;
stones ellipsoid, strongly flattened, deeply pitted, furrowed.
black, globose, 10–13 mm, glabrous;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones ellipsoid, slightly flattened.
= 16.
= 16 (Japan).
Prunus persica
Prunus speciosa
Peaches are cultivated throughout much of North America. Commercial production is diffuse, occurring in over half of the lower 48 states as well as in southern British Columbia and southern Ontario. Freestone peaches for fresh eating come largely from California, Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina; most clingstones are used for canning and are grown in California. Nectarines are a variety with hairless skin. The fruits are popular on picnics, and peach saplings are commonly encountered anywhere pits are discarded. Escapes are usually short-lived; some escapes form naturalized populations. Double-flowered cultivars are used ornamentally.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The name Prunus serrulata has been widely applied to P. speciosa by North American botanists and horticulturalists (for example, P. G. Russell 1934; A. J. Rehder 1940); some Japanese cherry experts now circumscribe P. serrulata more narrowly so that it includes only the white-petaled, double-flowered cultivars closely resembling the nomenclatural type. The single-flowered plants that are found escaping rarely and perhaps naturalizing in the flora area have been called P. lannesiana (Carrière) E. H. Wilson forma albida (Makino) E. H. Wilson or P. speciosa. Based on principal components analysis of 35 morphological characters from 468 individuals of the P. serrulata complex and related taxa, K. S. Chang et al. (2007) argued that forma albida is distinctive and separated from other taxa of the P. serrulata complex. H. Ohba (2001) recognized it at species rank as Cerasus speciosa (Koidzumi) H. Ohba. The classification and nomenclature of Japanese flowering cherries are complex, convoluted, and subject to varying interpretations, and no attempt is made to resolve them here. Centuries of selection and hybridization have blurred species distinctions, and it may be best to do as horticulturalists have and forsake botanical species names in favor of traditional and cultivar names. Whatever the name, these Japanese flowering cherries are widely grown as ornamentals where winters are not too cold nor summers too hot; they escape only rarely and have been found naturalizing only near planted specimens.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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