矮扁桃 ai bian tao

Amygdalus ledebouriana Schlechtendal; Prunus nana (Linnaeus) Stokes (1812), not Du Roi (1772); P. tenella Batsch.

Shrubs 1–1.5 m tall. Branches erect-divaricate, with many short branchlets; first year branchlets grayish white to reddish brown; older branchlets reddish gray or gray, glabrous. Winter buds brown, ovoid, 2–4 mm, glabrous, apex obtuse to acute. Stipules linear to linear-lanceolate, 5–10 × 1.5–3 mm, margin entire or slightly dentate. Leaves on short branchlets sessile and in clusters, those on long branchlets often solitary and alternate; petiole 4–7 mm, glabrous; leaf blade narrowly oblong, oblong-lanceolate, or lanceolate, 2.5–6 × 0.8–3 cm, both surfaces glabrous, base narrowly cuneate to attenuate, margin minutely and shallowly obtusely serrate, apex acute to ± obtuse. Flowers solitary, opening at same time as leaves, ca. 2 cm in diam. Pedicel 3–6 mm, 5–7 mm in fruit, yellowish pubescent, surrounded by brown bud scales. Hypanthium purplish brown, cylindrical, 5–8 × 2–4 mm, outside glabrous. Sepals ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 3–4 mm, outside glabrous, margin slightly serrate and with ± remote glands. Petals pink, irregularly obovate to oblong, 10–17 × 4–8 mm, base cuneate, apex obtuse to shallowly emarginate. Stamens many, shorter than petals. Ovary densely villous. Style nearly as long as stamens. Drupe ovoid to ovoid-globose, 1–2(–2.5) × 1.2–1.8(–2) cm, densely straw yellow villous; mesocarp dry, splitting when ripe; endocarp ovoid-globose to elongate ovoid-globose, compressed, 0.8–1.8(–2.2) × 1–1.5(–1.7) cm, with thick curved ventral and ± keeled dorsal sutures, surface with irregular shallow reticulate furrows, base somewhat oblique, apex obtuse. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Jun–Jul.

Grasslands, valleys, hollows, dry slopes; below 1200 m. Xinjiang [Russia; SW Asia, Europe].