Prunus speciosa
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
Section: P. sect. Cerasus
Species:
P. speciosa
Binomial name
Prunus speciosa
Synonyms[1]
List
    • Cerasus speciosa (Koidz.) H.Ohba
    • Prunus fimbriisepala Nakai
    • Prunus idzuensis Nakai
    • Prunus occultans Nakai
    • Prunus speciosa (Koidz.) Nakai

Prunus speciosa, the Oshima cherry, Japanese オオシマザクラ (Oshima zakura), is native to Izu Ōshima island and the Izu Peninsula on Honshū near Tokyo, Japan.[2][3]

Description

Prunus speciosa is a deciduous tree typically 4–12 metres (13–39 ft) high. The leaves are 5–10 cm long and 3–6 cm broad, with a double-toothed margin, and an acuminate apex.

The flowers are 2.5–4 cm diameter, with five white petals, gold stamens and brown sepals; they grow in clusters in the spring, and are hermaphroditic. The fruit is a small black cherry about 1 cm diameter.[4][5][6]

A tree 8 m in circumference and 800 years old is known on Ōshima island. It has been designated a national treasure.[7]

Cultivation and cultivar

Oshima cherry is a paternal species of Yoshino cherry. Yoshino cherry（left）and Oshima cherry.（right)

The Oshima cherry, is widely cultivated as an ornamental tree. Because of its large, showy flowers it is planted in many gardens and parks. It prefers sun and moist but well draining soil.

There are many cultivars. It is also a hybrid parent of many of the sakura flowering cherry cultivars.[3] Among these cultivars, those that originated from Oshima cherry are called Cerasus Sato-zakura Group, and many cultivars have a large number of petals, and the representative cultivar is Prunus lannesiana ‘Kanzan’ or ‘Sekiyama’. The reason for this is that Oshima cherry tend to mutate into double-flowered, grow fast, have many large flowers, and have a strong fragrance, so they have been favored for cherry blossom viewing because of their characteristics. When the population of the southern Kanto region increased during the medieval Kamakura period, Oshima cherry, which was originally from Izu Ōshima Island, was brought to Honshu and started to be cultivated there, and then brought to the capital, Kyoto. In the Muromachi period, Prunus lannesiana 'Albo-rosea' Makino (Fugenzou) and Prunus serrulata 'Mikurumakaisi' (Mikuruma gaeshi) derived from Oshima cherry were born, and in the Edo period, various kinds of Cerasus Sato-zakura Group such as ‘Kanzan’ were born, and many cultivars have been succeeded until now.[8]

Oshima cherry is a paternal species of Yoshino cherry.[9][10]

Food

The fruit is also edible. The flowers when dried are used to make tea. The leaves (sakura leaf or cherry leaf) are used in cooking and medicine to make 'cherry tree rice cake',[11] but P. speciosa is not the only sakura leaf.[12]

Classification

The plant was first described by Gen'ichi Koidzumi as Prunus jamasakura var. speciosa, and later treated as a separate species by Collingwood Ingram (1880-1981).[3] It is occasionally treated as a synonym of Prunus lannesiana.[13] or (particularly in Japan) as a variety of it, Prunus lannesiana var. speciosa (Koidz.) Makino.[11] The name speciosa in Latin means "the beautiful", a name which must apply to the blossoming tree.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Prunus speciosa". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Bean, W. J. (1980). Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles 8th ed., vol. 3. John Murray ISBN 0-7195-2427-X.
  4. ↑ Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan ISBN 0-333-47494-5.
  5. ↑ Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins ISBN 0-00-220013-9.
  6. ↑ Moore, D.; White, J. (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trees (1st ed.). Portland, Oregon: Timber press. p. 545. ISBN 0-88192-520-9.
  7. ↑ Taafe, G., & Levy-Yamamori R. (2004). Garden Plants of Japan p. 197. Timber press, Portland, Oregon ISBN 0-88192-650-7.
  8. ↑ Toshio Katsuki. (2015) Sakura. pp.89-95 pp.103-106 pp.166-170 Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 978-4004315346
  9. ↑ Satoshi Ohta; Shinsuke Osumi; Toshio Katsuki; Ikuo Nakamura; Toshiya Yamamoto; Yo-Ichiro Sato (2006). "Genetic characterization of flowering cherries (Prunus subgenus Cerasus) using rpl16-rpl14 spacer sequences of chloroplast DNA". 園芸雑誌(J. Japan. Soc. Hort. Sci.). 75 (1): 72–78. doi:10.2503/jjshs.75.72. Retrieved 2011-04-06.
  10. ↑ Online Resource 5. Inferences, from morphological classification and STRUCTURE analysis, on the origins of Japanese flowering cherry cultivars p.7 ‘Yedoensis’/染井吉野 (Cer194) 、STRUCTURE analysis (K = 11)、 Tree Genetics & Genomes Volume 10, Issue 3(2014), pp 477-487、30 Jan. 2014、Supplementary Material (5) 11295_2014_697_MOESM5_ESM.pdf (318KB)
  11. 1 2 Tree pictorial book by Kanon: Prunus lannesiana var. speciosa (in Japanese) Google translation
  12. ↑ "Prunus speciosa in Flora of North America @". Efloras.org. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  13. ↑ Plants for a Future Database: Prunus lannesiana
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