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| Japanese mountain cherry [1] | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Rosaceae |
| Genus: | Prunus |
| Subgenus: | Prunus subg. Cerasus |
| Species: | P. jamasakura |
| Binomial name | |
| Prunus jamasakura | |
Prunus jamasakura, the Japanese mountain cherry, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae that is endemic to Japan.
The species was first given a binomial by Philipp Franz von Siebold in 1830, [4] [5] : 148 the specific epithet relating to the Japanese common name, Yama-zakura (ヤマザクラ, 山桜), [2] lit. the "mountain" or "wild cherry". [5] : 149 While Siebold alludes to the uses to which the tree has traditionally been put—its wood in woodblock printing, its bark in a range of crafts ( kabazaiku ), its fruit for consumption [4] [note 1] —there is no description, diagnosis, or reference to previous literature containing such, no illustration, and no mention of a type specimen, [5] : 148 his Prunus jamasakura being a nomen nudum [5] : 150 or seminudum. [6] : 278
Tomitaro Makino first described the taxon in 1908, as Prunus pseudocerasus var. jamasakura. [7] : 93 Elevated to species rank (Prunus jamasakura) by Gen-ichi Koidzumi in 1911, [8] : 184 in 1992 Hideaki Ohba moved the mountain cherry to the genus Cerasus , [6] : 278 a treatment still followed by a number of authorities. [9] [10] [11] Ohba and Shinobu Akiyama suggest that Makino's var. jamasakura is a "superfluous name" and give the citation Cerasus jamasakura (Siebold ex Koidz.) H. Ohba. [5] : 150
Prunus jamasakura is a deciduous tree that grows to a height of 20–25 metres (66–82 ft). [9] [10] [14] Koidzumi's description is as follows: "a glabrous tree, more rarely pubescent. Elliptic leaves suddenly acuminate, sharply setaceo-serrated. Petioles arranged mostly towards the apex, with two glands. Coetaneous flowers very rarely sub precocious, corymbose or fascicled. Glabrous style." [8] : 185 [note 2] His description of the Tsukushi variety notes: "umbels with shorter peduncles, smaller bracts, and leaves' saw-teeth less aristate". [13] : 57 [note 3]
A study of the impact of feeding upon the fruit by black bears noted their preference for ripe cherries (some 50–66 days after blossoming) and found no significant difference in the percentage of seeds that germinated compared with the control, suggesting their potential in dispersal. [15]
The endemic [16] species occurs in the low mountains and secondary forests of Japan, from the Kantō region of Honshū to Shikoku and Kyūshū. [2] [14] The Tsukushi variety is found on the islands surrounding Kyūshū, including Tsushima, Tanegashima, and the Tokara Islands. [3] [14]
Prunus jamasakura is classed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, although the 2021 assessment notes a decline in the area and quality of its habitat. [2]
The mountain cherry, even if its historic circumscription hasn't always conformed with current taxonomic understanding and molecular phylogenetics, has inspired Japanese poets since the days of the Man'yōshū and long been the object of the practices of appreciation known as hanami . [17] [18] Records of its full blossoming and of viewing parties in Edo period diaries and chronicles are such that they have been drawn on more recently for the reconstruction of historic temperatures. [19]
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy drupe.
Prunus is a genus of trees and shrubs in the flowering plant family Rosaceae that includes plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, being native to the North American temperate regions, the neotropics of South America, and temperate and tropical regions of Asia and Africa, There are 340 accepted species. Many members of the genus are widely cultivated for their fruit and for decorative purposes. Prunus fruit are drupes, or stone fruits. The fleshy mesocarp surrounding the endocarp is edible while the endocarp itself forms a hard, inedible shell called the pyrena. This shell encloses the seed, which is edible in some species, but poisonous in many others. Besides being eaten off the hand, most Prunus fruit are also commonly used in processing, such as jam production, canning, drying, and the seeds for roasting.
The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in Prunus subgenus Cerasus. "Sakura" usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of Prunus serrulata, not trees grown for their fruit. Cherry blossoms have been described as having a vanilla-like smell, which is mainly attributed to coumarin.
Prunus subg. Padus is a subgenus of Prunus, characterised by having racemose inflorescences. Padus was originally a distinct genus, but genetic and morphological studies have shown that Padus is polyphyletic. It has been proposed that all the racemose taxa within Prunus are incorporated into a broad-sense Prunus subg. Padus.
Prunus serrulata or Japanese cherry is a species of cherry tree that grows naturally in Japan, China, Korea, and Vietnam, and it also refers to a cultivar produced from Prunus speciosa, a cherry tree endemic in Japan. Historically, the Japanese have developed many cultivars by selective breeding of cherry trees, which are produced by the complicated crossing of several wild species, and they are used for ornamental purposes all over the world. Of these, the cultivars produced by complex interspecific hybrids based on the Oshima cherry are also known as the Cerasus Sato-zakura Group.
Astilbe is a genus of 18 species of rhizomatous flowering plants within the family Saxifragaceae, native to mountain ravines and woodlands in Asia and North America. Some species are known by the common names false goat's beard and false spirea.
Prunus × yedoensis is a hybrid cherry tree between Prunus speciosa as father plant and Prunus pendula f. ascendens as mother. It is a hybrid born in Japan and one of its cultivars, Prunus × yedoensis 'Somei-yoshino' or Yoshino cherry, is one of the most popular and widely planted cherry cultivars in temperate regions around the world today. 'Somei-yoshino' is a clone from a single tree, and has been propagated by grafting all over the world. 'Somei-yoshino' inherits Edo higan's quality of blooming before the leaves unfold and it growing into a large-sized tree. It also inherits the characteristics of the Oshima cherry, which grows rapidly and has white flowers. These characteristics are favored and have become one of the most popular cultivars of cherry trees.
Prunus speciosa, the Oshima cherry, Japanese オオシマザクラ, is native to Izu Ōshima island and the Izu Peninsula on Honshū near Tokyo, Japan.
Prunus itosakura is a wild species of cherry trees native to Japan, and is also the name given to the cultivars derived from this species. Itosakura means thread cherry, and appeared in historical documents from the Heian period in Japan. The scientific name for the hybrid between this species and Prunus incisa is Prunus × subhirtella. Historically, the Japanese have produced many cultivars from this wild species, and they are also called weeping cherry, autumn cherry, or winter-flowering cherry, because of the characteristics of each cultivar.
Jisaburo Ohwi was Japanese botanist. He was a distinguished member of the Faculty of Science of Kyoto Imperial University. He is perhaps best known for his 1953 Flora of Japan.
The flora of Japan comprises a large assemblage of plant species which can be found in Japan, such as sakura, katsura, momiji and azalea. There are many species which are endemic to Japan.
Gen-ichi Koidzumi was a Japanese botanist, author of several papers and monographs on phytogeography including work on roses and Amygdaloideae (Rosaceae), maples (Aceraceae), mulberries, and many other plants. His name is sometimes transliterated as Gen’ichi or Gen-Iti, or as Koizumi.
Prunus subg. Prunus is a subgenus of Prunus. This subgenus includes plums, apricots and bush cherries. Some species conventionally included in Prunus subg. Amygdalus are clustered with plum/apricot species according to molecular phylogenetic studies. Shi et al. (2013) has incorporated subg. Amygdalus into subg. Prunus, thereby including almonds and peaches in this subgenus. The species in this subgenus have solitary flowers or 2–3 in a fascicle.
Prunus × nudiflora is a Korean native cherry tree originating from Jeju Island. It is a distinct species from Japanese native Yoshino cherry. King cherry is a rare plant and listed as an endangered species. As of April 2017, 194 king cherry trees were growing around Mt. Halla in Jeju Island. According to Gen-ichi Koidzumi, king cherry is erroneously believed to be discovered by a French missionary Émile Joseph Taquet although what he discovered was a different species.
Sorbus randaiensis is a species of deciduous tree in the family Rosaceae. It is endemic to the mountain areas of central Taiwan, with altitude 1,800m to 3,200m, mostly spotted in the forest of Xueshan, Hehuan Mountain, Mount Xiluan, and Nenggao Mountain. It is a tree 3–8 m tall with white flowers and reddish fruit.
Prunus pseudocerasus or Prunus pseudo-cerasus, the Chinese sour cherry or just Chinese cherry, is a species of cherry native to China and is used worldwide as an ornamental for its early spring cherry blossoms. The fruits of some cultivars are edible.
Prunus rufa, called Himalayan cherry, is a species of cherry native to Nepal and Burma. It is used as an ornamental elsewhere for its striking shiny brown bark. It has been found growing at 3,925 m (12,900 ft) above sea level in the Himalayas.
Prunus subg. Cerasus is a subgenus of Prunus. Species of the subgenus have a single winter bud per axil. The flowers are usually in small corymbs or umbels of several together, but some species have short racemes. The fruit is a drupe and has no obvious groove along the side. The subgenus is native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with two species in North America, four in Europe, two in North Africa, and the remainder in Asia.
Acta Phytotaxonomica et Geobotanica (APG) is a scientific journal of plant taxonomy and botany published by the Japanese Society for Plant Systematics (日本植物分類学会). The journal was established along with the Societas Phytogeographica in 1932 by Gen-ichi Koidzumi. According to the International Plant Names Index, over 3,300 plant names have been first published in the journal.
