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Prunus pilosiuscula (Schneid.) Koehne

Modern name

Prunus pilosiuscula (C.K.Schneid.) Koehne

Synonyms

P. tatsienensis var. pilosiuscula Schneid.; P. pilosiuscula var. media, Koehne, in part; Prunus venusta Koehne

A deciduous shrub or a small tree sometimes 40 ft high, with a trunk over 1 ft in diameter; young shoots sparingly hairy or glabrous. Leaves oval or obovate, the base wedge-shaped to rounded or slightly heart-shaped, the apex contracted to a slender point, conspicuously (often doubly) toothed, 112 to 4 in. long, about half as much wide; sprinkled with, and roughened by, short bristles above, more thickly on the midrib and veins beneath; stalk about 12 in. long. Flowers produced with the young leaves in April two to four on a main-stalk 14 to 1 in. long, the individual stalks up to 118 in. long or sometimes solitary; they are white, 34 in. wide; calyx-tube cylindrical to funnel-shaped with narrowly triangular more or less glandular lobes; style hairy towards the base; ovary glabrous. Fruits narrowly ovoid, 13 in. long, red, ripe in June. Bot. Mag., t. 9192.

Native of W. Hupeh, China; originally discovered by Henry about 1888; introduced by Wilson in 1907. It belongs to the same group of cherries as P. litigiosa, which has only axil-tufts of hairs beneath the leaves and a much shorter main flower-stalk. P. pilosiuscula varies a good deal in regard to pubescence and in the var. subvestita Koehne (Wilson No. 41), the flower-stalks, young shoots, and both sides of the leaves are downy or hairy. P. polytricha Koehne appears to be merely a still more downy or even shaggy variety of this species, the downiness extending to the calyx. All these are pretty but their blossom is somewhat evanescent.


Genus

Prunus

Other species in the genus