Cherry plum

Cherry plum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Prunus
Subgenus: Prunus
Section: Prunus
Species: P. cerasifera
Binomial name
Prunus cerasifera
Ehrh. 1784 not Popov 1929 nor Lecoq & Lamotte 1848
Synonyms[1]

Prunus cerasifera is a species of plum known by the common names cherry plum and myrobalan plum.[2] It is native to Southeast Europe[3][4][5] and Western Asia,[2][6] and is naturalised in the British Isles[3] and scattered locations in North America.[7][8][9]

Wild types are large shrubs or small trees reaching 8–(12) m (25–40 feet) tall, sometimes spiny, with glabrous, ovate deciduous leaves 3–7 cm (1.5–2.5 inches) long.[3]:196 It is one of the first European trees to flower in spring,[3] often starting in mid-February before the leaves have opened. The flowers are white or pale pink and about 2 cm (0.8 inches) across, with five petals and many stamens. The fruit is an edible drupe, 2–3 cm in diameter, ripening to yellow or red from early July to mid-September. They are self-fertile but can also be pollinated by other Prunus varieties such as the Victoria plum.[10] The plant propagates by seed or by suckering, and is often used as the rootstock for other Prunus species and cultivars.[3]

The cherry plum is a popular ornamental tree for garden and landscaping use, grown for its very early flowering. Numerous cultivars have been developed, many of them selected for purple foliage, such as P cerasifera var pissardii (Carrière) L.H. Bailey (P. 'Atropurpurea').[3][11] The variety 'Nigra' with black foliage and pink flowers, has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[12] These purple-foliage forms (often called 'purple-leaf plum'), also have dark purple fruit, which make an attractive, intensely coloured jam. They can have white or pink flowers. The cultivar 'Thundercloud' has bright red foliage which darkens purple.[13] Others, such as 'Lindsayae', have green foliage. Some kinds of purple-leaf plums are used for bonsai[11] and other forms of living sculpture.

Cultivated cherry plums can have fruits, foliage, and flowers in any of several colours. Some varieties have sweet fruits that can be eaten fresh, while others are sour and better for making jam. Cherry plums are a key ingredient in Georgian cuisine where they are used to produce tkemali sauce, as well as a number of popular dishes, such as kharcho soup and chakapuli stew.

The cherry plum has been listed as one of the 38 plants that are used to prepare Bach flower remedies,[14] a kind of alternative medicine promoted for its supposed effect on health. However, according to Cancer Research UK, "there is no scientific evidence to prove that flower remedies can control, cure or prevent any type of disease, including cancer".[15]

Images of cherry plums
Ripe fruit 
Unripe fruit 
Flowers 

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  2. 1 2 UConn Horticulture Archived 14 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stace, C. A. (2010). New Flora of the British Isles (Third ed.). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521707725.
  4. ↑ Altervista Flora Italiana, Prunus cerasifera Ehrh. includes photos and European distribution map
  5. ↑ "UC/JEPS: Jepson Manual treatment for Prunus cerasifera". berkeley.edu.
  6. ↑ Flora of China, Prunus cerasifera Ehrhart, 1789. 樱桃李 ying tao li
  7. ↑ Flora of North America, Prunus cerasifera Ehrhart, 1784. Cherry plum, myrobalan
  8. ↑ "University of Washingtion Herbarium Image Collection - Burke Museum". washington.edu.
  9. ↑ "Calflora taxon report, University of California: Prunus cerasifera". calflora.org.
  10. ↑ Titmarsh, Alan (2008). The Kitchen Gardener. BBC Books. p. 247.
  11. 1 2 Pissard Plum Fact Sheet
  12. ↑ "RHS Plant Selector Prunus cerasifera 'Nigra' AGM / RHS Gardening". Apps.rhs.org.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  13. ↑ Thundercloud Fact Sheet
  14. ↑ D. S. Vohra (1 June 2004). Bach Flower Remedies: A Comprehensive Study. B. Jain Publishers. p. 3. ISBN 978-81-7021-271-3. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  15. ↑ "Flower remedies". Cancer Research UK. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
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