Spring Cherry
From KeyToNature
Prunus x subhirtella
Rose family (Rosaceae)
Origin: Japan
Description: Tree up to 20m high. Bark grey or brown, often peeling in strips to reveal shiny reddish or purplish-brown colour beneath. Leaves alternate, oval to narrowly oblong with a long-pointed tip, margins sharply toothed, hairy in the veins beneath and on the leaf stalk. Flowers 2cm across, usually some shade of pink, in clusters of 2-5 with the hairy stalks all arising from a central point. Ripe fruit 10mm, globular, black.
Comments: As the name suggests, Spring cherry comes into flower around April. One form, cv ‘Autumnalis’, produces flowers irregularly throughout autumn and winter and is more commonly planted than the spring-flowering tree.
Similar trees:
- Japanese cherry
- Wild cherry
- Cherry-plum
