Prunus emarginata
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| Prunus emarginata | ||||||||||||||||
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 Prunus emarginata leaves and flowers
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| Prunus emarginata (Dougl. ex Hook.) Eaton |
Prunus emarginata (Bitter Cherry) is a species of Prunus native to western North America, from British Columbia south to California, and east to western Wyoming and Arizona. It is often found in recently disturbed areas, open woods, on nutrient-rich soil.[1][2][3]
It is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 1–15 m tall with a slender oval trunk with smooth gray to reddish-brown bark with horizontal lenticels. The leaves are 2–8 cm long, thin, oval-shaped, and yellowish-green with unevenly-sized teeth on either side. The flowers are small, 10–15 mm diameter, with five white petals and numerous hairlike stamens; they are almond-scented, and produced in clusters in spring, and are pollinated by insects. The fruit is a juicy red or purple cherry 7–14 mm diameter, which, as the plant's English name suggests, are bitter. As well as reproducing by seed, it also sends out underground stems which then sprout above the surface to create a thicket.[2][3]
There are two varieties:[2][4]
- Prunus emarginata var. emarginata. Usually shrubby; young shoots and leaves hairless or only thinly hairy. Most of the species' range.
- Prunus emarginata var. mollis (Dougl.) Brew. A larger tree; young shoots and leaves downy. Oregon north to British Columbia, mainly coastal.
It has hybridized with the introduced European Prunus avium in the Puget Sound area; the hybrid has been named as Prunus × pugetensis. It is intermediate between the parent species, but is nearly sterile, producing almost no cherries.[5]
[edit] Uses
The cherries are not very palatable and have been known to cause illness in humans, but animals, especially birds, forage on them. Native tribes, most notably Kwakwaka'wakw, used other parts of the plant for medicinal purposes, such as poultices and bark infusions.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Germplasm Resources Information Network: Prunus emarginata
- ^ a b c Plants of British Columbia: Prunus emarginata
- ^ a b Jepson Flora: Prunus emarginata
- ^ USDA Plants Profile: Prunus emarginata
- ^ Jacobson, A. L. & Zika, P. F. (2007). A new hybrid cherry, Prunus × pugetensis (P. avium × emarginata, Rosaceae), from the Pacific Northwest. Madroño 54: 74–85. Abstract
- ^ Casebeer, M. (2004). Discover California Shrubs. Sonora, California: Hooker Press. ISBN 0-9665463-1-8
