Prunus pensylvanica L. f.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Prunus pensylvanica' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/prunus/prunus-pensylvanica/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Genus

Common Names

  • Pin Cherry

Synonyms

  • Cerasus pensylvanica (L. f.) Loisel.

Glossary

calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Prunus pensylvanica' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/prunus/prunus-pensylvanica/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

A deciduous tree reaching 30 to 40 ft in height, with a trunk 112 ft in diameter; bark bitter, aromatic, reddish and shining on the young shoots. Leaves ovate, long-pointed, 3 to 412 in. long, 34 to 114 in. wide, glabrous, bright green, finely toothed, the teeth much incurved and gland-tipped; stalk glabrous, 12 in. long, with one or two glands at the top. Flowers 12 in. across, white, produced four to ten together in umbellate clusters or short racemes, each flower on a slender glabrous stalk 34 in. long; petals round, downy outside at the base; calyx glabrous, with rounded lobes. Fruits round, 14 in. in diameter, red.

Native of N. America, where it is very widely spread; introduced to England in 1773. It flowers very freely in this country at the end of April and in May when the leaves are half-grown, and is very beautiful then. According to Sargent it is a short-lived tree, but plays an important part in the preservation and reproduction of N. American forests. Its abundant seed is freely distributed by birds, and the rapidly growing young trees give valuable shelter to the other trees longer-lived than they are, which ultimately suppress them. It might be planted in thin woodland, in places where our native P. avium thrives.


var. saximontana Rehd

Of shrubby habit. Leaves more shortly pointed. Flowers fewer in each cluster. Rocky Mountains.