Prunus serrulata or
Japanese Cherry; also called
Hill Cherry,
Oriental Cherry or
East Asian Cherry, is a species of
cherryPrunus is a genus of trees and shrubs, which includes the plums, cherries, peaches, apricots and almonds. It is traditionally placed within the rose family Rosaceae as a subfamily, the Prunoideae , but is sometimes placed in its own family, the Prunaceae...
native to
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
,
KoreaKorea is a civilization and formerly unified nation currently divided into two states. Located on the Korean Peninsula, it borders China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait....
and
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
.
It is a small
deciduousDeciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
with a short single trunk, with a dense crown reaching a height of about 8-12 m. The smooth
barkBark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
is chestnut-brown, with prominent horizontal
lenticelA lenticel is an airy aggregation of cells within the structural surfaces of the stems, roots, and other parts of vascular plants. It functions as a pore, providing a medium for the direct exchange of gasses between the internal tissues and atmosphere, thereby bypassing the periderm, which would...
s. The
leavesIn botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin. There is continued debate about whether the flatness of leaves evolved to expose the chloroplasts to more light or to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide. In...
are arranged alternately, simple, ovate-lanceolate, 5-13 cm long and 2.5-6.5 cm broad, with a short petiole and a serrate or doubly serrate margin.
Prunus serrulata or
Japanese Cherry; also called
Hill Cherry,
Oriental Cherry or
East Asian Cherry, is a species of
cherryPrunus is a genus of trees and shrubs, which includes the plums, cherries, peaches, apricots and almonds. It is traditionally placed within the rose family Rosaceae as a subfamily, the Prunoideae , but is sometimes placed in its own family, the Prunaceae...
native to
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
,
KoreaKorea is a civilization and formerly unified nation currently divided into two states. Located on the Korean Peninsula, it borders China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait....
and
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
.
It is a small
deciduousDeciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
with a short single trunk, with a dense crown reaching a height of about 8-12 m. The smooth
barkBark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
is chestnut-brown, with prominent horizontal
lenticelA lenticel is an airy aggregation of cells within the structural surfaces of the stems, roots, and other parts of vascular plants. It functions as a pore, providing a medium for the direct exchange of gasses between the internal tissues and atmosphere, thereby bypassing the periderm, which would...
s. The
leavesIn botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin. There is continued debate about whether the flatness of leaves evolved to expose the chloroplasts to more light or to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide. In...
are arranged alternately, simple, ovate-lanceolate, 5-13 cm long and 2.5-6.5 cm broad, with a short petiole and a serrate or doubly serrate margin. At the end of autumn, the green leaves turn yellow, red or crimson. The
flowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds...
s are produced in racemose clusters of two to five together at nodes on short spurs in spring at the same time as the new leaves appear; they are white to pink, with five petals in the wild type tree. The
fruitThe term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds, and the presence of seeds indicates that a structure is most likely a fruit, though not all seeds come from...
is a globose black
drupeIn botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...
8-10 mm diameter.
Cultivation and uses
It is widely grown as an ornamental tree, both in its native area and elsewhere throughout the temperate regions of the world. Numerous
cultivarA cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of desired characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when propagated it retains those characteristics....
s have been selected, many of them with double flowers with the stamens replaced by additional petals.
In cultivation in Europe and North America, it is usually grafted on to
Prunus aviumThe Wild cherry, Sweet cherry or Gean is a species of cherry, native to Europe, northwest Africa, and western Asia, from the British Isles south to Morocco and Tunisia, north to the Trondheimsfjord region in Norway and east to the Caucasus, and northern Iran, with a small disjunct population in...
roots; the cultivated forms rarely bear fruit. It is viewed as part of the Japanese custom of
Hanamiis the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, "flower" in this case almost always meaning , or . From mid January to early May, sakura bloom all over Japan. The is announced each year by the weather bureau, and is watched carefully by those planning hanami as the blossoms...
.
Cultivars and varieties
There are several
varietiesIn botanical nomenclature, variety is a taxonomic rank below that of species: As such, it gets a ternary name .A variety will have an appearance distinct from other varieties, but will hybridize freely with those other varieties...
:
- Prunus serrulata var. serrulata (syn. var. spontanea). Japan, Korea, China.
- Prunus serrulata var. hupehensis (Ingram) Ingram. Central China. Not accepted as distinct by the Flora of China.
- Prunus serrulata var. lannesiana (Carrière) Makino (syn. Cerasus lannesiana Carrière; Prunus lannesiana (Carrière) E. H. Wilson). Japan.
- Prunus serrulata var. pubescens (Makino) Nakai. Korea, northeastern China.
- Prunus serrulata var. spontanea (Maxim.) E. H. Wilson (syn. Prunus jamasakura Siebold ex Koidz.)
Selected important cultivars include:
- Prunus serrulata 'Amonogawa'. Fastigate Cherry, with columnar habit; flowers semi-double, pale pink.
- Prunus serrulata 'Kanzan'. Kanzan Cherry. Flowers pink, double; young leaves bronze-coloured at first, becoming green. Commonly mis-spelt "Kwanzan".
- Prunus serrulata 'Kiku-shidare'. Cheal's Weeping Cherry. Stems weeping; flowers double, pink. Tends to be short-lived.
- Prunus serrulata 'Shirofugen'. Flowers double, deep pink at first, fading to pale pink.
- Prunus serrulata 'Shirotae'. Mt. Fuji Cherry. Very low, broad crown with nearly horizontal branching; flowers pure white, semi-double.
- Prunus serrulata 'Tai Haku'. Great White Cherry. Flowers single, white, very large (up to 8 cm diameter); young leaves bronze-coloured at first, becoming green.
- Prunus serrulata 'Ukon'.