Prunus mira Koehne

A deciduous almond up to 30 to 35 ft high; shoots glabrous, smooth at first, becoming warty with age. Leaves lanceolate, 2 to 5 in. long, 3⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. wide, dark green and glabrous above, rather glaucous and more or less grey-hairy along the midrib beneath. Flowers solitary or in pairs, axillary on the leafless shoots, opening in March and April, 1 to 11⁄4 in. wide; petals roundish-obovate, white, prettily tinged with pink, margins wavy; stamens with red stalks and yellow anthers. Fruits nearly globose, 13⁄4 in. long, velvety, the flesh edible but bitter, the stone smooth. Bot. Mag., t. 9548.

Native of W. Szechwan, China, up to 8,000 ft altitude, discovered and introduced by E. H. Wilson in 1910. It is of great botanical interest in being the only almond known to have a smooth stone. It is evidently quite hardy and flowers and bears fruit freely. It succeeded particularly well at Kemsing in Kent growing on one foot of loam on chalk.