''Prunus emarginata'', the bitter cherry or Oregon cherry, 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 western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, from

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

south to

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, and east as far as western

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

and

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

. It is often found in recently disturbed areas or open woods on nutrient-rich soil.Plants of British Columbia
''Prunus emarginata''
/ref>Jepson Flora
''Prunus emarginata''
/ref>

Description

''Prunus emarginata'' is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

or small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

growing to tall with a slender oval trunk with smooth gray to reddish-brown

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, ...

with horizontal

lenticel A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the bark of woody stems and roots of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It functions as a pore, providing a ...

s. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are long, thin, egg-shaped, and yellowish-green with unevenly sized teeth on either side. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are small, diameter, with five white petals and numerous hairlike stamens; they are almond-scented, and produced in clusters in spring, and are pollinated by insects. The fruit is a juicy red or purple

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...

diameter, which, as the plant's English name suggests, are bitter. As well as reproducing by seed, it also sends out underground stems which then sprout above the surface to create a thicket. There are two varieties: *''Prunus emarginata'' var. ''emarginata''. Usually shrubby; young shoots and leaves hairless or only thinly hairy. Most of the species' range. *''Prunus emarginata'' var. ''mollis'' (Dougl.) Brew. A larger tree; young shoots and leaves downy. Reddish-brown bark with light horizontal bands resembling

water birch ''Betula occidentalis'', the water birch or red birch, is a species of birch native to western North America, in Canada from Yukon east to Northwestern Ontario and southwards, and in the United States from eastern Washington east to western Nort ...

. Oregon north to British Columbia, mainly coastal.

Similar species

'' Prunus pensylvanica'', the pin cherry, is closely related.

Ecology

Mammals, deer and livestock forage on the leaves. The cherries are eaten by some birds (especially cedar waxwing), who in turn distribute the seeds. The seeds have hard shells which can preserve them for decades before being released by fire. The tree is a larval host to the

blinded sphinx ''Paonias excaecatus'', the blinded sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was Species description, first described by James Edward Smith (botanist), James Edward Smith in 1797. Distribution It is found in Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

elegant sphinx ''Sphinx perelegans'', the elegant sphinx, is a species of hawkmoth. Distribution It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Baja California and to New Mexico. Description The wingspan is 98–110 mm. Sphinx pere ...

Lorquin's admiral Lorquin's admiral (''Limenitis lorquini'') is a butterfly in the Nymphalinae subfamily. The butterfly is named after Pierre Joseph Michel Lorquin, a French naturalist who came to California from France during the Gold Rush, and made important dis ...

, pale tiger swallowtail,

small-eyed sphinx ''Paonias myops'', the small-eyed sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was Species description, first described by James Edward Smith (botanist), James Edward Smith in 1797. Distribution It is found from south-eastern Canada ...

spring azure ''Celastrina ladon'', the spring azure or echo blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America from Alaska and Canada south of the tundra, through most of the United States except the Texas coast, southern plain and ...

twin-spotted sphinx ''Smerinthus jamaicensis'', the twin-spotted sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was Species description, first described by Dru Drury in 1773. Distribution It is widely distributed across North America. It has been taken ...

, and

western tiger swallowtail ''Papilio rutulus'', the western tiger swallowtail, is a swallowtail butterfly belonging to the ''Papilionidae'' family. The species was first described by Hippolyte Lucas in 1852. Like the other tiger swallowtails, the western tiger swallowt ...

Cultivation

It has hybridized with the introduced European '' Prunus avium'' in the Puget Sound area; the hybrid has been named ''

Prunus × pugetensis ''Prunus'' × ''pugetensis'' is a hybrid species of cherry discovered growing in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It has been given the nominal common name Puget Sound cherry. It is a cross of introduced sweet cherry, ''Prunus avium ...

''. It is intermediate between the parent species, but is nearly sterile, producing almost no cherries.

Uses

The extremely bitter cherries are inedible to humans. Native Americans used the bark in basket making.

Medicinal

Native tribes, most notably Kwakwaka'wakw, used parts of the plant for medicinal purposes, such as poultices and bark infusions. The isoflavone prunetin was isolated for the first time by Finnemore in 1910 from the bark of ''P. emarginata''.Isoflavones. III. The structure of prunetin and a new synthesis of genistein. R. L. Shriner, C. J. Hull, J. Org. Chem., 1945, 10 (4), pp 288–291
/ref>

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q591062 emarginata Cherries Flora of the Western United States Flora of Baja California Flora of British Columbia Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the San Francisco Bay Area Plants described in 1832 Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Bird food plants Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants