Prunus maximowiczii

Prunus maximowiczii
Prunus maximowiczii, Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rosaceae
Genus:	Prunus
Subgenus:	Cerasus
Species:	P. maximowiczii
Binomial name
Prunus maximowiczii Rupr.[1]
Synonyms
Cerasus maximowiczii (Rupr.) Kom.[2]

Prunus maximowiczii, known as the Miyama cherry or Korean cherry (not to be confused with P. japonica, also called Korean cherry), is a small (about 7.5 m), fruiting cherry tree that can be found growing wild in northeastern Asia and Eurasia.

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 1857 by Franz Josef Ruprecht. It was treated in the genus Cerasus (now generally accepted as a subgenus of Prunus) by Vladimir Leontyevich Komarov in 1927, but the original P. maximowiczii remains the widely accepted binomial.^[1][2]

Description

P. maximowiczii has white, insect-pollinated, hermaphroditic flowers, blooming in May. The edible fruits (cherries) are about 5 mm in diameter, containing one large seed each. They ripen in August.^[3]

Range and habitat

Korea, China (Heilong Jiang, Jilin, Liaoning, and Zhejiang), Russia (Khabarovsk, Primorye, and Sakhalin), and Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, and Kyushu),^[1] often in mountainous, woodland regions and in clayey soil.

Uses

P. maximowiczii is useful in many ways; aside from eating the fruit, the flowers can be used as a condiment, preserved in brine.^[3]

The wood of P. maximowiczii is very hard, heavy, and close grained, making it excellent for carving and the making of furniture.^[3]

Dyes produced from the leaves of P. maximowiczii are green; and those from the fruit, a dark grey to green.^[3]

Chemically, amygdalin and prunasin, the derivatives of which produce prussic acid^[3] as well as Genistein^[4] can be extracted from P. maximowiczii.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c}  Prunus maximowiczii was originally described and published in Bull. Cl. Phys.-Math. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Petersbourg 15:131. 1857 ("1856"). GRIN (February 10, 2006). "Prunus maximowiczii information from NPGS/GRIN". Taxonomy for Plants. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland: USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?30040. Retrieved May 28, 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b}  Species was first published under the name Cerasus maximowiczii in V. L. Komarov & E. N. Klobukova-Alisova, Key pl. Far East. USSR 2:657. 1932. GRIN (February 11, 2007). "Prunus maximowiczii information from NPGS/GRIN". Taxonomy for Plants. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland: USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?447215. Retrieved May 28, 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Prunus maximowiczii". http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/pcplantdb/showthing.php?BOTNAME=Prunus+maximowiczii. Retrieved May 28, 2010. 
4. ^ "Chemical Information - GENISTEIN". Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. http://sun.ars-grin.gov:8080/npgspub/xsql/duke/chemdisp.xsql?chemical=GENISTEIN. Retrieved May 28, 2010. 

External links

• More images and information at Prunus maximowiczii at Cirrus Digital