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Prunus incana
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Prunus incana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Common Names
- Willow Cherry
Synonyms
- Amygdalus incana Pall.
- Cerasus incana (Pall.) Spach
Other taxa in genus
- Prunus alleghaniensis
- Prunus americana
- Prunus × amygdalo-persica
- Prunus amygdalus
- Prunus angustifolia
- Prunus apetala
- Prunus arabica
- Prunus argentea
- Prunus armeniaca
- Prunus avium
- Prunus besseyi
- Prunus brigantina
- Prunus campanulata
- Prunus canescens
- Prunus cantabrigiensis
- Prunus cerasifera
- Prunus cerasus
- Prunus cocomilia
- Prunus concinna
- Prunus conradinae
- Prunus consociiflora
- Prunus cornuta
- Prunus cuthbertii
- Prunus cyclamina
- Prunus dasycarpa
- Prunus davidiana
- Prunus × dawyckensis
- Prunus dielsiana
- Prunus domestica
- Prunus dulcis
- Prunus emarginata
- Prunus × fontanesiana
- Prunus fruticosa
- Prunus glandulosa
- Prunus grayana
- Prunus himalaica
- Prunus hortulana
- Prunus humilis
- Prunus ilicifolia
- Prunus incisa
- Prunus jacquemontii
- Prunus japonica
- Prunus kansuensis
- Prunus lannesiana
- Prunus laurocerasus
- Prunus litigiosa
- Prunus lusitanica
- Prunus maackii
- Prunus mahaleb
- Prunus maritima
- Prunus maximowiczii
- Prunus microcarpa
- Prunus mira
- Prunus mugus
- Prunus mume
- Prunus nigra
- Prunus nipponica
- Prunus orthosepala
- Prunus padus
- Prunus pensylvanica
- Prunus persica
- Prunus pilosiuscula
- Prunus prostrata
- Prunus pumila
- Prunus rufa
- Prunus salicina
- Prunus sargentii
- Prunus serotina
- Prunus serrula
- Prunus serrulata
- Prunus sibirica
- Prunus × sieboldii
- Prunus simonii
- Prunus sogdiana
- Prunus speciosa
- Prunus spinosa
- Prunus ssiori
- Prunus subcordata
- Prunus subhirtella
- Prunus takesimensis
- Prunus tangutica
- Prunus tenella
- Prunus tomentosa
- Prunus triloba
- Prunus virginiana
- Prunus × yedoensis
A deciduous shrub 4 to 8 ft high, of rather open, loose habit; shoots minutely downy. Leaves oval-lanceolate or obovate, pointed, 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, 1⁄3 to 7⁄8 in. wide; regularly, finely, and sharply toothed, tapering towards both ends, dark green and glabrous above, covered with a close white wool beneath. Flowers 1⁄4 in. across, borne singly from the buds of the previous year’s shoots; petals deep rosy red; calyx 1⁄4 in. long, tubular, with five short, rounded, downy lobes. Fruits glabrous, red, 1⁄3 in. across.
Native of the Caucasus and Asia Minor; introduced in 1815. Its flowers appear in April along with the young leaves, and it is then very pretty. Sometimes confused with P. tenella, it is easily distinguished from that and most other species by the close white felt on the undersurface of the willow-like leaves. The fruit is quite different from that of P. tenella, being cherry-like. It is allied to P. prostrata (q.v.).