__NOTOC__ ''Prunus cerasifera'' is a species of

plum A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century. Plums are ...

known by the common names cherry plum and myrobalan plum.UConn Horticulture
Native to Eurasia and naturalized elsewhere, ''P. cerasifera'' is believed to be one of the parents of the cultivated plum.

Description

Wild types are large

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s or small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s reaching tall, sometimes spiny, with glabrous, ovate

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

leaves long. It is one of the first European trees to

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

in spring, often starting in mid-February before the leaves have opened. The flowers are white or pale pink and about across, with five petals and many stamens. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

is an edible

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

, 2–3 cm in diameter, ripening to yellow or red from early July to mid-September. They are self-fertile but can also be

pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or butterflies; bird ...

by other ''Prunus'' varieties such as the

Victoria plum The Victoria plum is a type of English plum. It has a yellow flesh with a red or mottled skin. This plum is a cultivar of the egg plum group (''Prunus domestica'' ssp. ''intermedia''). The fruit is oval or ovate in shape. The ground colour i ...

. The plant propagates by seed or by suckering, and is often used as the rootstock for other ''Prunus'' species and

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

Distribution and habitat

It is native to

Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...

and

Western Asia West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian ...

, and is naturalised in the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

and scattered locations in North America. It is also naturalized in parts of Southeast Australia where it is considered to be a mildly invasive weed of bushland near urban centers.

Ecology

''P. cerasifera'' is believed to be one of the parents of the cultivated plum, ''

Prunus domestica ''Prunus domestica'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. A deciduous tree, it includes many varieties of the fruit trees known as plums in English, though not all plums belong to this species. The greengages and damsons als ...

'', perhaps crossing with the sloe, ''

Prunus spinosa ''Prunus spinosa'', called blackthorn or sloe, is an Old World species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is locally naturalized in parts of the New World. The fruits are used to make sloe gin in Britain and patxaran in B ...

'', or perhaps the sole parent. This would make it a parent of most of the commercial varieties of plum in the UK and mainland Europe: Victoria, greengages, bullace, etc.

Cultivation

The cherry plum is a popular

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

for

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

and

landscaping Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following: # Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal ...

use, grown for its very early flowering. Numerous cultivars have been developed, many of them selected for purple foliage, such as ''P. cerasifera'' var ''pissardii'' (Carrière) L.H. Bailey (''P.'' 'Atropurpurea').Pissard Plum Fact Sheet
/ref> The cultivar 'Nigra' with black foliage and pink flowers, has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

. ''Prunus'' × ''cistena'' (purple leaf sand cherry), a hybrid of ''Prunus cerasifera'' and ''

Prunus pumila ''Prunus pumila'', commonly called sand cherry, is a North American species of cherry in the rose family. It is widespread in eastern and central Canada from New Brunswick west to Saskatchewan and the northern United States from Maine to Montana, ...

'', the sand cherry, also won the Award of Garden Merit. These purple-foliage forms (often called 'purple-leaf plum'), also have dark purple fruit, which make an attractive, intensely coloured jam. They can have white or pink flowers. The cultivar 'Thundercloud' has bright red foliage which darkens purple.Thundercloud Fact Sheet
/ref> Others, such as 'Lindsayae', have green foliage. Some kinds of purple-leaf plums are used for

bonsai Bonsai (; , ) is the Japanese art of Horticulture, growing and shaping miniature trees in containers, with a long documented history of influences and native Japanese development over a thousand years, and with unique aesthetics, cultural hist ...

and other forms of

living sculpture Living sculpture is any type of sculpture that is created with living, growing grasses, vines, plants or trees. It can be functional and/or ornamental. There are several different types of living sculpture techniques, including topiary (prune plant ...

. Cultivated cherry plums can have fruits, foliage, and flowers in any of several colours.

Uses

The fruits are edible. Some varieties have sweet fruits that can be eaten fresh, while others are sour and better for making

jam Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the meth ...

. Cherry plums are a key ingredient in

Georgian cuisine Georgian cuisine ( ka, ქართული სამზარეულო, tr) consists of cooking traditions, techniques, and practices of Georgia. Georgian cuisine has a distinct character, while bearing some similarities with various nationa ...

where they are used to produce

tkemali Tkemali ( ka, ტყემალი) is a Georgian sauce primarily made of cherry plum; '' alucha plum'' and red-leaf plum are also common plum species used to make Tkemali in Georgia. While the sauce is typically red, both red and green variet ...

sauce, as well as a number of popular dishes, such as

kharcho Kharcho, also spelled Harcho ( ka, ხარჩო), is a traditional Georgian soup containing beef, rice, cherry plum purée, and chopped walnuts (''Juglans regia''), but they are not compulsory. The soup is seasoned with Khmeli Suneli and c ...

soup and

chakapuli Chakapuli ( ka, ჩაქაფული) is a GeorgianDarra Goldstein, The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia, p. 87 stew. It is considered to be one of the most popular dishes in Georgia. Preparati ...

stew. It is a popular tree in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

where its fruits are used for souring soups when immature, for eating raw when ripened, and for making

moonshine Moonshine is alcohol proof, high-proof liquor, traditionally made or distributed alcohol law, illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of distilling the alcohol (drug), alcohol at night to avoid detection. In the first decades of the ...

when overripe because of their high sugar content.

Gallery

File:Śliwa wiśniowa (Prunus cerasifera).jpg, ''Prunus cerasifera'' File:PrunusCerasifera0.jpg, Flowers being pollinated File:Prunus cerasifera LC0385.jpg, Flowers File:MirabellenblueteH2a.jpg, Flower (close-up) File:My mother's cherry plum.JPG, Ripened fruits on the branch File:Cherry plums.jpg, Ripened fruits

References

External links

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''Prunus cerasifera''
- information, genetic conservation units and related resources.

European Forest Genetic Resources Programme European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN) is an international network that promotes the conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources in Europe as an integral part of sustainable forest management. It was established ...

(EUFORGEN) {{Authority control cerasifera Ornamental trees Flora of Europe Flora of temperate Asia Plants described in 1754 Fruit trees Sour fruits Taxa named by Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart