Flora of New Zealand Series

cherry plum

Deciduous shrub or small tree up to 8 m high when mature, with numerous spiny branches mainly on lower vegetative shoots; trunk short; secondary branches ± erect. Lf petiole 6-12-(20) mm long, glabrous; blade thin, narrowly obovate to elliptic or broadly elliptic, (30)-40-80 × (13)-15-45 mm, usually green, sometimes purple or bronzy purple, ± shining, subacute to apiculate, cuneate at base, glabrous above, glabrous below but lower ⅓ of midrib sometimes densely pilose (lamina of young lvs sometimes ± pilose below), serrulate with teeth blunt or with a short cusp; stipules short, triangular, deciduous. Fls solitary although usually closely spaced, or in clusters of 2-(4) on short shoots, not fragrant, pendent or spreading; pedicels 5-14-(25) mm long, glabrous. Hypanthium broad; sepals oblong, 1.5-3 mm long, obtuse, glabrous except on inner face, becoming reflexed, mostly green but sometimes purplish, with marginal stalked glands. Petals usually 5, spreading, orbicular, 6-11 mm diam., rounded and undulate, white or occasionally pink. Stamens slightly < or = petals; filaments pale. Fr. (10)-15-30 mm long, usually subglobose or ± broadly ovoid, sometimes globose, somewhat sulcate, glabrous, yellow to orange-red or scarlet, sometimes dark crimson, slightly pruinose, sweet; stone smooth.

N.: Manawatu (Bunnythorpe), Hutt Valley; S.: common from Nelson to S.E. Otago, generally E. of the Main Divide, Southland (Tapanui); St.; Ch.

Probably cultivated origin 1958

Hillsides, forest margins, sand dunes, wasteland, stream margins, around plantations and shelterbelts and roadsides up to c. 300 m.

FL Aug-Sep FT Nov-Jan.

P. cerasifera is widespread in cultivation and as a relic, and is a very hardy sp. which thrives in cold, upland, interior localities as well as many warmer lowland and coastal places. It seeds freely and is fully naturalised in many temperate countries besides N.Z. Purple or reddish purple-leaved forms with pink fls and dark crimson frs are very commonly grown as garden ornamentals. The commonest and most widespread is cv. 'Pissardii', often known as P. pissardii Carrière or as cv. 'Atropurpurea'. Its purple-leaved progeny are occasionally wild as well as being commonly spontaneous within gardens. The double pink-flowered hybrid P. × blireana André is also very common in N.Z. gardens, being valued for its late winter fls. It does not regenerate. P. divaricata Ledeb. from S.E. Europe and S.W. Asia is now often considered to be the original wild sp. from which P. cerasifera is derived, the latter being known only as a cultivated or naturalised plant (Bean, loc. cit.).

P. cerasifera is a putative parent of P. × domestica, and chiefly differs in having glabrous and shining shoots, solitary fls and usually globose or subglobose frs; P. × domestica usually has hairy and dull shoots, the fls usually few in clusters, and usually ± elongated frs.