''Prunus prostrata'' (mountain cherry, rock cherry, creeping cherry, spreading cherry or prostrate cherry) is a hardy alpine

shrub A shrub or 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 by their multiple ...

found naturally above about 2000 m. up to as high as 4000 m. in

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, and

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. It grows as tall as 1 m., more typically 0.15-0.30 m., sometimes in the crevices of vertical surfaces. The branches tend to follow the surface at any angle. Flowering patches of the plant on the rocky slopes, sometimes still snow-clad, are striking to climbers. The

bark Bark may refer to: Common meanings * 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) Arts and entertainment * ''Bark'' (Jefferson Airplane album), ...

is reddish brown. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are ovate, with serrate margins,

tomentose Trichomes (; ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a plant ...

with white down on undersurface,

glabrous Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

above. The petioles lack glands. The

flowers Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

are an unusual light rose color, coming out in April–May, solitary or in pairs, nearly sessile, with a tubular calyx. There are 22-24

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s. The fruit is red, ovate, with thin flesh, ripening in July.

Uses

The fruit is edible but not preferred by humans. The plant's main use is as in ornamental gardening. It can be grafted to form a tree.

Classification

The name ''Prunus prostrata'' was assigned by

Jacques Labillardière Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (28 October 1755 – 8 January 1834) was a French biologist noted for his descriptions of the flora of Australia. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the Jean-François de Galaup, comte ...

, the French botanist, in ''Icones plantarum Syriae rariorum'', published on his return from a plant-hunting expedition to the Middle East. Prostrata means "lying on the ground", referring to the plant's ground-hugging propensity, a mechanical necessity at high elevation. A prostrate branch bends back to the ground.

Palaeobotanical evidence

A recent study of

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

and other microfossils from a

core sample A core sample is a cylindrical section of (usually) a naturally-occurring substance. Most core samples are obtained by drilling with special drills into the substance, such as sediment or rock, with a hollow steel tube, called a core drill. The ...

taken in an intermontane valley of the Segura mountains in southern

finds ''P. prostrata'' in a "''Prunus'' type" located in two

radiocarbon-dated Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

zones from about 2630 BP to about 1550 BP and again from about 790 BP to present.For simplicity the tolerances have not been repeated here. "Present" is 1955/1956 AD. The ecology of the ''Prunus'' type was "high-altitude open pine forest." The core goes back to 8320 BP, but there is no evidence if ''Prunus'' in it before 2630.

References

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from1=Q1258395, from2=Q15535873 prostrata prostrata Flora of Southeastern Europe Flora of North Africa Flora of Spain Flora of France Flora of Turkey Flora of Syria Plants described in 1791 Taxa named by Jacques Labillardière