Prunus
Family: Rosaceae
Prunus image
Anne Barber
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The Morton Arboretum
Tree or shrub Leaves: alternate, usually toothed. The stalk has small, early-falling stipules near the base and usually has a conspicuous pair of glands near the top. Flowers: bisexual, can be solitary but usually in clusters, white to pink or red, with numerous stamens (about twenty) and a usually single pistil with an elongated style, superior ovary, and two ovules (one is aborted). Sepals: five, fused at the base, with spreading to reflexed lobes, usually falling after flowering. Petals: five, elliptic to inversely egg-shaped and spreading. Fruit: fleshy with a hard center stone (drupe), often more or less spherical but varied, usually covered with a waxy whitish coating (glaucous). The stone is usually compressed and bears a single seed. Bark: smooth or breaking into small plates, often with many horizontal corky spots (lenticels). Buds: with many overlapping scales.

Flowering: spring, usually before the leaves emerge

Habitat and ecology: Thickets and woodlands. Some Prunus species are native, while others are introduced and sometimes escape into natural areas.

Notes: The genus Prunus includes many important crops such as cherries, plums, peaches, apricots, and almonds.

Etymology: Prunus is the Latin name for plum.

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Vascular plants of NE US and adjacent Canada
Hypanthium cup-shaped, obconic, or urceolate; sep spreading or reflexed, usually soon deciduous; pet 5, white to pink or red, elliptic to obovate, spreading; stamens ca 20; pistil 1, simple, 2-ovulate, inserted at the bottom of the hypanthium and bearing a terminal style; fr a 1-seeded drupe, the exocarp fleshy or juicy, the endocarp (stone) hard; trees or shrubs with simple, serrate lvs, very often with a pair of large glands at the summit of the petiole, the fls conspicuous, umbellate or solitary from axillary buds or short lateral branches, or racemose and terminal; bark commonly with conspicuous horizontal lenticels, relatively smooth, or breaking up into smooth platelets. (Amygdalus, Cerasus, Padus) 200, mainly N. Temp.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Species within inventory project: Intermountain Regional Herbarium Network
Prunus armeniaca
Image of Prunus armeniaca
Prunus emarginata
Image of Prunus emarginata
Prunus fasciculata
Image of Prunus fasciculata
Prunus persica
Image of Prunus persica
Prunus virginiana
Image of Prunus virginiana