Prunus umbellata |
Prunus avium |
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Alleghany plum, flatwood plum, hog or flatwoods or Allegheny plum, hog plum, sloe |
cerisier des oiseaux, sweet cherry, wild cherry |
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Habit | Shrubs or trees, sometimes suckering, 10–60 dm, moderately thorny. | Trees, not suckering, 60–200 dm, not thorny. |
Twigs | with axillary end buds, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy. |
with terminal end buds, glabrous. |
Leaves | deciduous; petiole 3–14 mm, hairy, usually eglandular, sometimes hairy only adaxially, glandular distally, glands 1–3, discoid; blade usually elliptic to broadly elliptic, sometimes oblanceolate to obovate, 3.5–8 × 1.5–4 cm, base usually cuneate to obtuse, rarely rounded, margins finely, usually singly serrulate, sometimes doubly serrate, teeth sharp, usually eglandular, sometimes glandular, glands blackish, spheric, apex usually acute, sometimes short-acuminate, abaxial surface hairy to glabrate, adaxial glabrous. |
deciduous; petiole (14–)20–40 mm, nearly glabrous or sparsely hairy adaxially, glandular distally or on margins at bases of blades, glands 1–3, discoid; blade oblong, elliptic-obovate, or obovate, (4–)7–14 × (2.5–)4–8.5 cm, base obtuse to rounded, margins doubly crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex abruptly short-acuminate, abaxial surface moderately hairy (especially midribs and veins), adaxial glabrous. |
Inflorescences | 2–4(–6)-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
1–3-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
Pedicels | 5–22 mm, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy. |
(14–)25–52 mm, glabrous. |
Flowers | blooming before or at leaf emergence; hypanthium tubular (often tubular-urceolate when dried), 2–4 mm, glabrous or hairy externally; sepals erect-spreading, ovate-oblong, 1.5–2.5 mm, margins usually entire, sometimes 2-fid at apices, ciliate, abaxial surface hairy or glabrous, adaxial hairy; petals white, sometimes turning pink, obovate to suborbiculate, 3–8 mm; ovaries glabrous. |
blooming at leaf emergence; hypanthium tubular-urceolate, 5–7 mm, glabrous externally; sepals reflexed, oblong, 4–6 mm, margins entire or sparsely and irregularly toothed, surfaces glabrous; petals white, obovate to suborbiculate, 12–15 mm; ovaries glabrous. |
Drupes | red, yellow, dark blue, or nearly black, glaucous, globose, 10–15 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ovoid, slightly to ± flattened. |
dark red to purplish black, globose, 13–30 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones subglobose, not flattened. |
2n | = 16. |
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Prunus umbellata |
Prunus avium |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–May; fruiting Jul–Sep. | Flowering Mar–May; fruiting Jun–Jul. |
Habitat | Sandy pine or oak woods, sandy barrens, shale ridges, limestone bluffs, rocky upland woods, old fields, roadsides | Roadsides, stream banks, forest edges, disturbed forests |
Elevation | 10–800 m (0–2600 ft) | 0–1600 m (0–5200 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; FL; GA; LA; MA; MD; MI; MS; NC; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
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AZ; CA; CT; DC; DE; ID; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; UT; VA; WA; WV; WY; BC; NB; NS; ON; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
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Discussion | Traditionally treated as distinct species, Prunus alleghaniensis from the Appalachians and P. umbellata from southeastern United States are very similar; their ranges overlap in North Carolina and Tennessee. Similar plants disjunct in Michigan have been called P. alleghaniensis var. davisii. Morphological characters (petiole length, shape of blade along with its base and apex, degree of suckering) that have been used to separate these taxa vary as much within each taxon as among them. Since they can be separated only by geographic distribution, they are combined in this treatment. Some specimens from Connecticut with hairy twigs, petioles, pedicels, and hypanthia were determined as Prunus alleghaniensis by Eames a century ago and do seem to fit within P. umbellata. Other Connecticut specimens determined as P. alleghaniensis (for example, Eames 121, MICH) with scattered glandular teeth on the sepals seem better placed in P. americana. The sole specimen known from Massachusetts (Pease 10,005, NEBC) has singly serrate leaves evenly tapered at both ends as in P. umbellata, but larger petals and reflexed sepals like those of P. americana. In the southeastern United States, hairy forms have been called Prunus injucunda or P. mitis; the degree of indument on the twigs, petioles, leaf surfaces, pedicels, hypanthia, and sepals is subject to much trivial variation throughout the southeast, the Appalachians, and in Michigan. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Cultivars of Prunus avium are grown in North America both for their attractive flowers, especially where the Japanese ornamental cherries are not hardy, and for their sweet fruits. Most of the sweet cherry crop in North America is grown in the Pacific Coast states and in Michigan and Ontario. Most varieties are self-incompatible and require pollen from a variety in a different incompatibility group in order to set fruits. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 380. | FNA vol. 9, p. 368. |
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | P. alleghaniensis, P. alleghaniensis var. davisii, P. injucunda, P. mitis, P. umbellata var. injucunda | P. cerasus var. avium |
Name authority | Elliott: Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 541. (1821) | (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Fl. Suec. ed. 2, 165. (1755) |
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