樱桃李 ying tao li

Prunus cerasifera subsp. myrobalana (Linnaeus) C. K. Schneider; P. domestica Linnaeus var. myrobalana Linnaeus; P. sogdiana Vassilczenko.

Shrubs or trees, to 8 m tall. Branches dark gray, sometimes spiny; branchlets dark red, glabrous. Winter buds purple; scale margins sometimes sparsely ciliate. Stipules lanceolate, margin glandular serrulate, apex acuminate. Petiole 6–12 mm, usually glabrous or sometimes sparsely pubescent when young, without nectaries; leaf blade elliptic, ovate, obovate, or rarely elliptic-lanceolate, (2–)2–6 × 2–6(–6) cm, abaxially pale green and pubescent on midvein, adaxially dark green and glabrous, base cuneate to subrounded, margin crenate or sometimes doubly crenate, apex acute. Flowers solitary, rarely 2 in a fascicle, 2–2.5 cm in diam. Pedicel 1–2.2 cm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Hypanthium outside glabrous. Sepals narrowly ovate, outside glabrous, margin shallowly serrate, apex obtuse. Petals white, oblong to spatulate, base cuneate, margin undulate, apex obtuse. Stamens 25–30. Ovary villous. Stigma disc-shaped. Drupe yellow, red, or black, subglobose to ellipsoid, 2–3 cm in diam., slightly glaucous; endocarp ellipsoid to ovoid, smooth or scabrous, sometimes pitted. Fl. Apr, fr. Aug.

Forests, stream sides in valleys, gravelly slopes, also cultivated; 800--2000 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia, S Europe].

This species is widely cultivated throughout much of China for its fruit and flowers, with many horticultural varieties and forms. The purplish-leaved form, Prunus cerasifera f. atropurpurea (Jacquin) Rehder, is often planted as a garden ornamental in N China.