Prunus brigantina

Prunus brigantina
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Subfamily: Amygdaloideae
Genus: Prunus
Species: P. brigantina
Binomial name
Prunus brigantina
Vill.
Synonyms[1]
  • Prunus brigantiaca Vill.
  • Prunus chamaecerasus Jacq.

Prunus brigantina, called Briançon apricot and alpine apricot,[2] is a wild tree species native to France and Italy.[3] It is the only apricot-like Prunus species native to Europe.[4]

The fruit is similar to the commercial apricot Prunus armeniaca, and is edible. An edible oil produced from the seed, 'huille des marmottes', is used in France.[5]

Description

Illustration by Pancrace Bessa, from Nouveau Duhamel, ou traité des arbres et arbustes que l'on cultive en France by Duhamel, 1812

Unlike the other closely related species known as apricots, the fruit is smooth.

Taxonomy

Prunus brigantina is considered a member of the apricot group, along with P. armeniaca, P. mandshurica, P. mume, and P. sibirica,[4] but its genetic relationships to other Prunus species are not yet clear, as an initial molecular phylogeny found that various DNA sequences gave ambiguous indications, and it did not appear to belong in a clade with Prunus armeniaca.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "USDA GRIN Taxonomy". Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, version 2013.2". Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Bortiri, E.; Oh, S.-H.; Jiang, J.; Baggett, S.; Granger, A.; Weeks, C.; Buckingham, M.; Potter, D.; Parfitt, D.E. (2001). "Phylogeny and systematics of Prunus (Rosaceae) as determined by sequence analysis of ITS and the chloroplast trnL-trnF spacer DNA". Systematic Botany 26 (4): 797–807. JSTOR 3093861.
  5. ↑ "Plants for a Future". Retrieved 21 January 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Prunus_brigantina.