Prunus umbellata
Prunus tomentosa
Alleghany plum, flatwood plum, hog or flatwoods or Allegheny plum, hog plum, sloe
Manchu cherry, Nanking cherry
with axillary end buds, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy.
with terminal end buds, densely hairy.
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 2–7 mm, hairy, eglandular;
blade obovate to oblong-elliptic, 3–6(–7.5) × 1.7–3.5(–4.7) cm, base obtuse to rounded, margins coarsely, singly to doubly serrate, teeth sharp, usually eglandular, sometimes glandular, glands dark, spheric, apex abruptly short-acuminate to acute, abaxial surface tomentose, adaxial rugose, hairy, sometimes sparsely so.
2–4(–6)-flowered, umbellate fascicles.
usually solitary flowers, sometimes 2-flowered fascicles.
5–22 mm, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy.
0–5 mm, hairy.
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 before or at leaf emergence;
hypanthium tubular, 3.5–6 mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy (especially at bases) externally;
sepals spreading, ovate, 2.5–3.5 mm, margins serrate, sometimes glandular, abaxial surface hairy, adaxial glabrous;
petals white to pale pink (pink in bud), obovate or elliptic to suborbiculate, 9–13 mm;
ovaries glabrous proximally, villous distally.
red, yellow, dark blue, or nearly black, glaucous, globose, 10–15 mm, glabrous;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones ovoid, slightly to ± flattened.
red, globose, 8–15 mm, sparsely hairy;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones ellipsoid, not flattened.
= 16.
Prunus umbellata
Prunus tomentosa
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.)
Prunus tomentosa is cultivated as a landscape plant in hedges and as a background shrub because of its spreading habit and pale pink to white petals. It produces edible fruits that are said to make excellent jelly and juice.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
LA Plants
MD Biodiversity
MI Flora
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
BC
WA
Flora NW
IL Wildflowers
MN Wildflowers
PNW Herbaria
