Prunus subg. Cerasus is a subgenus of Prunus, commonly known as the true cherries. Species of the subgenus have a single winter bud per axil. The flowers are usually in small corymbs or umbels of several together (occasionally solitary, e.g. P. serrula), but some species have short racemes (e.g. P. maacki). The fruit is a drupe and has no obvious groove along the side. The subgenus is native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with two species in North America (P. emarginata and P. pensylvanica), four in Europe (P. avium, P. cerasus, P. fruticosa and P. mahaleb), two in North Africa (P. avium and P. mahaleb), and the remainder in Asia.
The fresh fruits of sweet cherry (worldwide) and Chinese cherry (in China) are consumed raw. The fruits of some species such as sour cherry are used to make desserts, sauce, jam and wine. The seeds of mahaleb cherry are used to make mahleb. Many species are cultivated as an ornamental tree, known as cherry blossoms.
Species
Species of Prunus subg. Cerasus are known as true cherries, which include:
- Prunus apetala <small>(Siebold & Zucc.) Franch. & Sav.</small> â clove cherry
- Prunus avium <small>(L.) L.</small> â sweet cherry, wild cherry, mazzard or gean
- Prunus campanulata <small>Maxim.</small> â bell-flowered cherry, Taiwan cherry or Formosan cherry
- Prunus canescens <small>Bois.</small> â grey-leaf cherry
- Prunus caudata <small>Franch.</small> â caudate cherry
- Prunus cerasoides <small>D. Don.</small> â wild Himalayan cherry
- Prunus cerasus <small>L.</small> â sour cherry
- Prunus clarofolia <small>C.K.Schneid.</small> â shiny-leaf cherry
- Prunus conadenia <small>Koehne</small>
- Prunus conradinae <small>Koehne</small>
- Prunus crataegifolia <small>Hand.-Mazz.</small> â hawthorn-leaf cherry
- Prunus cyclamina <small>Koehne</small> â cyclamen cherry or Chinese flowering cherry
- Prunus discadenia <small>Koehne</small>
- Prunus discoidea <small>(T.T.Yu & C.L.Li) Z.Wei & Y.B.Chang</small>
- Prunus dolichadenia <small>Cardot</small>
- Prunus emarginata <small>(Douglas ex Hook.) Walp.</small> â bitter cherry or Oregon cherry
- Prunus fruticosa <small>Pall.</small> â European dwarf cherry, dwarf cherry, Mongolian cherry or steppe cherry
- Prunus hainanensis <small>(G.A.Fu & Y.S.Lin) H.Yu, N.H.Xia & H.G.Ye</small> â Hainan cherry
- Prunus harae <small>H.Ohba & S.Akiyama</small>
- Prunus hefengensis <small>(X.R.Wang & C.B.Shang) Y.H.Tong & N.H.Xia</small> â Hefeng cherry
- Prunus henryi <small>(C.K.Schneid.) Koehne</small>
- Prunus himalaica Kitam. â Nepalese cherry
- Prunus incisa <small>Thunb.</small> â Fuji cherry
- Prunus itosakura Siebold
- Prunus jamasakura <small>Siebold ex Koidz.</small> â Japanese mountain cherry or Japanese hill cherry
- Prunus leveilleana <small>Koehne</small> (syn. Prunus verecunda <small>(Koidz.) Koehne</small>) â Korean mountain cherry
- Prunus maackii <small>Rupr.</small> (syn. Prunus glandulifolia <small>Rupr. & Maxim.</small>) â Manchurian cherry
- Prunus mahaleb <small>L.</small> â Saint Lucie cherry, rock cherry, perfumed cherry or mahaleb cherry
- Prunus matuurai <small>Sasaki</small> â Taiping Mountain cherry
- Prunus maximowiczii <small>Rupr.</small> â Miyama cherry or Korean cherry
- Prunus mugus <small>Hand.-Mazz.</small>
- Prunus nipponica <small>Matsum.</small> â Takane cherry, peak cherry or Japanese alpine cherry
- Prunus pananensis <small>Z.L.Chen, W.J.Chen & X.F.Jin</small> â Pan'an cherry
- Prunus patentipila <small>Hand.-Mazz.</small>
- Prunus pensylvanica <small>L.f.</small> â pin cherry, fire cherry, or wild red cherry
- Prunus pleiocerasus <small>Koehne</small>
- Prunus polytricha <small>Koehne</small>
- Prunus pseudocerasus <small>Lindl.</small> â Chinese cherry or Chinese sour cherry
- Prunus pusilliflora <small>Cardot</small>
- Prunus rufa <small>Wall ex Hook.f.</small> â Himalayan cherry
- Prunus rufoides <small>C.K.Schneid.</small> (syn. Prunus dielsiana <small>C.K. Schneid.)</small> â tailed-leaf cherry
- Prunus sargentii <small>Rehder</small> â northern Japanese hill cherry, northern Japanese mountain cherry or Sargent's cherry
- Prunus schneideriana <small>Koehne</small>
- Prunus serrula <small>Franch.</small> â paperbark cherry, birch bark cherry or Tibetan cherry
- Prunus serrulata <small>Lindl.</small> â Japanese cherry, hill cherry, Oriental cherry or East Asian cherry
- Prunus shikokuensis <small>(Moriya) H.Kubota</small> â Shikoku cherry
- Prunus singalilaensis <small>H.Ohba & S.Akiyama</small> â Singalila cherry
- Prunus speciosa <small>(Koidz.) Ingram</small> â Oshima cherry
- Prunus stipulacea <small>Maxim.</small>
- Prunus sunhangii <small>D.G.Zhang & T.Deng</small>
- Prunus szechuanica <small>Batalin</small> â Sichuan cherry
- Prunus takasagomontana <small>Sasaki</small>
- Prunus takesimensis <small>Nakai</small> â Ulleungdo cherry
- Prunus taplejungnica <small>H.Ohba & S.Akiyama</small> â Taplejung cherry
- Prunus tatsienensis <small>Batalin</small> â Kangding cherry
- Prunus topkegolensis <small>H.Ohba & S.Akiyama</small> â Topke Gola cherry
- Prunus transarisanensis <small>Hayata</small> â Alishan cherry
- Prunus trichantha <small>Koehne</small>
- Prunus trichostoma <small>Koehne</small>
- Prunus veitchii <small>Koehne ()</small>
- Prunus xingshanensis <small>Huan C.Wang</small> â Xingshan cherry
- Prunus yaoiana <small>(W.L.Cheng) Y.H.Tong & N.H.Xia</small>
- Prunus yunnanensis <small>Franch.</small> â Yunnan cherry
Nothospecies in this subgenus include:
Many Prunus species are called "cherries" but not included in this subgenus. They are not considered true cherries. Examples are:
- Bush cherries which have three winter buds per axil, such as Oriental bush cherry (P. japonica), humble bush cherry (P. humilis), Nanking cherry (P. tomentosa) and prostrate cherry (P. prostrata), are now included in Prunus subg. Prunus. Sand cherry (P. pumila) also belongs to P. subg. Prunus.
- Bird cherries (e.g. P. padus, P. grayana, P. napaulensis, P. ssiori), chokecherry (P. virginiana), black cherry (P. serotina), cherry laurels (e.g. P. laurocerasus, P. myrtifolia, P. pleuradenia), hollyleaf cherry (P. ilicifolia) and Catalina cherry (P. i. subsp. lyonii) whose flowers and fruits are borne on racemes belong to P. subg. Padus.
- The phylogenetic position of African cherry (P. africana) is still uncertain, but it is definitely not a true cherry species.
Notes
References
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