Prunus pseudocerasus or Prunus pseudo-cerasus, the Chinese sour cherry or just Chinese cherry, is a species of cherry native to China, It is used worldwide as an ornamental for its early spring . The fruit of some cultivars are edible.
Description
A small bushy tree growing to at most , it generally has reddish buds, shell pink flowers and typical red (if a bit pale) cherries.
It can be distinguished from its congeners by certain traits; its leaves are broadly
obovate, with an
acuminate tip, flat and
, its inflorescences are corymbose or subumbellate, with at least three and as many as seven flowers, and its branches and peduncles are pubescent.
[Encyclopædia of Plants; comprising the specific character, description, and every other desirable particular respecting all the plants indigenous to Britain. Ed. by Mrs. Loudon, assisted by G. Don and D. Wooster. London, 1872.]
Uses
In China it has been cultivated for its edible (if tart) fruit for around 2000 years.
In Japan it is favored as an
ornamental tree for its tendency to bloom, flowers before leaves, earlier than the Japanese cherry
Prunus serrulata.
A
tetraploid with 2n=32 chromosomes, it is used as rootstock for other flowering cherries. It is the parent of a number of hybrid cultivars.
It is resistant to the fungal disease cherry leaf spot.
is near extinction in the wild due to anthropogenic activities.
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