Prunus emarginata
Prunus emarginata leaves and flowers
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Prunus
Subgenus: Prunus subg. Cerasus
Species:
P. emarginata
Binomial name
Prunus emarginata
Natural range
Synonyms[1]
  • Cerasus arida Greene
  • Cerasus emarginata Douglas
  • Padus emarginata (Douglas ex Hook.) S.Ya.Sokolov
  • Prunus emarginata var. crenulata (Greene) Kearney & Peebles
  • Prunus erecta Walp.
  • Prunus crenulata Tidestr.
  • Prunus pattoniana hort.
  • Prunus prunifolia (Greene) Shafer

Prunus emarginata, the bitter cherry[2] or Oregon cherry, is a species of Prunus native to western North America, from British Columbia south to Baja California, and east as far as western Wyoming and New Mexico.[3][4] It is often found in recently disturbed areas or open woods on nutrient-rich soil.[5][6][7]

Description

Prunus emarginata is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 1–15 metres (3+1⁄2–49 feet) tall with a slender oval trunk with smooth gray to reddish-brown bark with horizontal lenticels. As a tree west of the Cascade Crest the species commonly reaches 80 to a maximum of over 100 feet tall. The leaves are 2–8 centimetres (3⁄4–3+1⁄8 inches) long, thin, egg-shaped, and yellowish-green with unevenly sized teeth on either side. The flowers are small, 10–15 millimetres (3⁄8–5⁄8 in) diameter, with five white petals and numerous hairlike stamens; they are almond-scented, and produced in clusters in spring, and are pollinated by insects. The fruit is a juicy red or purple cherry 7–14 mm (1⁄4–1⁄2 in) diameter, which, as the plant's English name suggests, are bitter. As well as reproducing by seed, it also sends out underground stems which then sprout above the surface to create a thicket.[6][7][8]

There are two varieties:[6][2]

  • Prunus emarginata var. emarginata. Usually shrubby; young shoots and leaves hairless or only thinly hairy. Most of the species' range.
  • Prunus emarginata var. mollis (Dougl.) Brew. A larger tree; young shoots and leaves downy. Reddish-brown bark with light horizontal bands resembling water birch.[9] Oregon north to British Columbia, mainly coastal.

Similar species

Prunus pensylvanica, the pin cherry, is closely related.[9]

Ecology

Mammals, deer and livestock forage on the leaves.[10] The cherries are eaten by some birds (especially cedar waxwing),[11] who in turn distribute the seeds.[9] The seeds have hard shells which can preserve them for decades before being released by fire.[9]

The tree is a larval host to the blinded sphinx, elegant sphinx, Lorquin's admiral, pale tiger swallowtail, small-eyed sphinx, spring azure, twin-spotted sphinx, and western tiger swallowtail.[12]

Cultivation

It has hybridized with the introduced European Prunus avium in the Puget Sound area; the hybrid has been named Prunus × pugetensis. It is intermediate between the parent species, but is nearly sterile, producing almost no cherries.[13]

Uses

The extremely bitter cherries are inedible to humans.[11] Native Americans used the bark in basket making.[9]

Medicinal

Native tribes, most notably Kwakwaka'wakw, used parts of the plant for medicinal purposes, such as poultices and bark infusions.[14] The isoflavone prunetin was isolated for the first time by Finnemore in 1910 from the bark of P. emarginata.[15]

References

  1. ↑ The Plant List, Prunus emarginata (Douglas ex Hook.) Walp.
  2. 1 2 USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Prunus emarginata". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  3. ↑ Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  4. ↑ SEINet, Southwestern Biodiversity, Arizona chapter photos, description, distribution map
  5. ↑ "Prunus emarginata". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 Plants of British Columbia: Prunus emarginata
  7. 1 2 Jepson Flora: Prunus emarginata
  8. ↑ Flora of North America, Prunus emarginata (Douglas) Eaton, Man. Bot. ed. 7. 463. 1836. Bitter cherry
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Arno, Stephen F.; Hammerly, Ramona P. (2020) [1977]. Northwest Trees: Identifying & Understanding the Region's Native Trees (field guide ed.). Seattle: Mountaineers Books. pp. 242–245. ISBN 978-1-68051-329-5. OCLC 1141235469.
  10. ↑ Little, Elbert L. (1994) [1980]. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Western Region (Chanticleer Press ed.). Knopf. p. 467. ISBN 0394507614.
  11. 1 2 Peattie, Donald Culross (1953). A Natural History of Western Trees. New York: Bonanza Books. p. 538.
  12. ↑ The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.
  13. ↑ Jacobson, A. L. & Zika, P. F. (2007). A new hybrid cherry, Prunus × pugetensis (P. avium × emarginata, Rosaceae), from the Pacific Northwest. Madroño 54: 74–85. Abstract
  14. ↑ Casebeer, M. (2004). Discover California Shrubs. Sonora, California: Hooker Press. ISBN 0-9665463-1-8
  15. ↑ Isoflavones. III. The structure of prunetin and a new synthesis of genistein. R. L. Shriner, C. J. Hull, J. Org. Chem., 1945, 10 (4), pp 288–291
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