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Prunus incana (Pall.) Batsch

Willow Cherry

Modern name

Prunus incana (Pall.) Batsch

Synonyms

Amygdalus incana Pall.; Cerasus incana (Pall.) Spach

A deciduous shrub 4 to 8 ft high, of rather open, loose habit; shoots minutely downy. Leaves oval-lanceolate or obovate, pointed, 112 to 3 in. long, 13 to 78 in. wide; regularly, finely, and sharply toothed, tapering towards both ends, dark green and glabrous above, covered with a close white wool beneath. Flowers 14 in. across, borne singly from the buds of the previous year’s shoots; petals deep rosy red; calyx 14 in. long, tubular, with five short, rounded, downy lobes. Fruits glabrous, red, 13 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.).


Genus

Prunus

Other species in the genus