紫杏 zi xing

Prunus dasycarpa Ehrhart, Beitr. Naturk. 6: 90. 1791; Armeniaca atropurpurea Loiseleur-Deslongchamps; A. dasycarpa (Ehrhart) Persoon; A. fusca Turpin & Poiteau; Prunus armeniaca Linnaeus var. dasycarpa (Ehrhart) K. Koch.

Trees 4–7 m tall. Branchlets many, purplish red, somewhat thin, smooth and glabrous when young. Petiole thin, short, with or without small nectaries; leaf blade ovate to elliptic-ovate, 4–7 × 2.5–5 cm, abaxially pubescent along veins or in vein axils, adaxially dark green and glabrous, base cuneate to subrounded, margin irregularly densely minutely crenate, apex shortly acuminate. Flowers usually solitary (or 2), opening before leaves, ca. 2 cm in diam. Pedicel 4–7 mm, 7–12 mm in fruit, thinly pubescent. Hypanthium reddish brown, campanulate, outside subglabrous. Sepals reddish brown, suborbicular to broadly oblong, subglabrous, apex obtuse. Petals white or with pink spots, broadly obovate to spatulate, to 1 cm. Stamens many, nearly as long as petals. Ovary thinly pubescent. Drupe dark purplish red, subglobose, ca. 3 cm in diam., thinly pubescent, glaucous; mesocarp succulent, sour, adnate to endocarp; endocarp ovoid to ellipsoid-ovoid, compressed laterally, ventral and dorsal ribs slightly obtuse, surface longitudinally furrowed and coarsely scabrous or slightly pitted, base subsymmetric, apex acute. Seed bitter, rarely sweet. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Jun–Jul.

Cultivated. Xinjiang [Kashmir, Russia; SW Asia].

This species is cultivated for its edible fruit and seeds and is unknown in the wild.