''Prunus mongolica'' (the Mongolian almond) is a species of ''

Prunus ''Prunus'' is a genus of trees and shrubs, which includes (among many others) the fruits plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds. Native to the North American temperate regions, the neotropics of South America, and the p ...

'' native to

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 ...

and

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

, particularly the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world. Geography The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast an ...

. A small scrubby bush, reaching 1-2m, it is adapted to extreme drought. Genetic studies have shown that it is more closely related to the peaches, with its closest relative being ''

Prunus tangutica ''Prunus tangutica'' () is a species of wild peach native to China. Based on its fruit traits it had been considered a wild almond, but genetic and morphological studies have shown that it is more closely related to ''Prunus persica ''Prunus' ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15228422, from2=Q15532560 mongolica Flora of Russia Flora of Mongolia Flora of Inner Mongolia Flora of North-Central China Plants described in 1879