''Prunus buergeriana'', in Japanese イヌザクラ (inu-zakura), meaning dog cherry, is a species of

bird cherry Bird cherry is a common name for the European plant '' Prunus padus''. Bird cherry may also refer to: * ''Prunus'' subg. ''Padus'', a group of species closely related to ''Prunus padus'' * ''Prunus avium'', the cultivated cherry, with the Latin e ...

native to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, northeast

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

(

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...

), and

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

. In China it prefers to grow on mountain slopes at 1000 to 3400m above sea level. Its closest relative is ''

Prunus perulata ''Prunus perulata'' () is a species of bird cherry native to Sichuan and Yunnan in China, preferring to grow at 2400–3200m. It is a tree typically 6–12m tall. Its flowers are borne on a raceme, quite small, with dull white to creamy-yellow ...

'', from which it is morphologically and genetically distinct.

Description

''Prunus buergeriana'' individuals usually reach a height of . The small flowers are borne on a

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

. The fruit ripen from green through red to black.

Cultural significance

Considered an unlovely tree in Japan, the dog cherry is used as a simile in Japanese

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...

for unflattering comparisons with dogs; in these the paltry raceme resembles the tail of a whipped cur, or the spotted bark the markings of a starving mongrel. Mine-tatae (峰湛)

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q3408635, from2=Q11121869 Bird cherries buergeriana Flora of Asia Trees of Bhutan Trees of China Trees of India Trees of Japan Trees of Korea Trees of Taiwan Plants described in 1865