Prunus subcordata
Prunus cerasus
Klamath plum, Oregon plum, Pacific plum, Sierra or Klamath or Pacific plume, Sierra plum, western plum
cerisier acide, cultivated sour cherry, pie cherry, sour cherry
with axillary end buds, glabrous or hairy.
with terminal end buds, glabrous.
deciduous;
petiole 4–18 mm, glabrous or hairy, usually glandular distally, glands 1–3, discoid;
blade elliptic, oblong-ovate, or suborbiculate, 2–5(–6.5) × 1.3–3.5(–4.5) cm, base rounded or subcordate, margins singly to doubly serrulate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex usually obtuse to rounded, rarely acute, abaxial surface glabrous or hairy, adaxial glabrous or appressed-hairy.
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-flowered, umbellate fascicles.
1–4-flowered, umbellate fascicles.
5–15 mm, glabrous or hairy.
8–37 mm, glabrous.
blooming at leaf emergence;
hypanthium campanulate, 2–3.5 mm, glabrous or hairy externally;
sepals broadly spreading to reflexed, obovate, 2.2–4(–5) mm, margins glandular-toothed, sometimes obscurely so, sometimes ciliate, surfaces glabrous or hairy;
petals white, oblong-obovate, 5–10 mm;
ovaries usually glabrous, rarely hairy.
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.
usually red to reddish purple, sometimes yellow, globose to ellipsoid, 15–25 mm, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones ovoid, ± flattened.
bright red, globose, 13–20 mm, glabrous;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones subglobose, not flattened.
= 32.
Prunus subcordata
Prunus cerasus
Prunus subcordata shows variation in color, size, indument, and palatability of fruits, which has been the basis for recognition of taxonomic segregates. Variety kelloggii was described as a larger plant with less hairy foliage than in typical P. subcordata, and its fruits are yellow, larger, sweeter, and more pulpy. Variety rubicunda is a smaller shrub with bright red, bitter fruits. Most noteworthy is var. oregana with densely hairy ovaries and puberulent fruits, recorded only from the sparsely inhabited border region between northeastern California and adjacent Oregon. Specimens in herbaria are few and recent collections are lacking. The assignment of P. texana with hairy fruits to the plums (J. Shaw and R. L. Small 2005) makes this variant all the more interesting. Field study and collection followed by morphologic, genetic, and molecular study are needed to clarify its systematic position and significance.
(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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