''Prunus'' × ''yedoensis'' (synonym ''Cerasus'' × ''yedoensis'') is a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

cherry tree between ''

Prunus speciosa ''Prunus speciosa'', the , is native to Izu Ōshima island and the Izu Peninsula on Honshū near Tokyo, Japan.Bean, W. J. (1980). ''Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles'' 8th ed., vol. 3. John Murray . Description ''Prunus speciosa'' is a ...

'' (''Oshima cherry'') as father plant and ''Prunus pendula'' f. ''ascendens'' (syn. ''Prunus itosakura'', ''Prunus subhirtella'' var. ''ascendens'', ''Edo higan'') as mother. It is a hybrid born in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and one of its

cultivars A cultivar is a kind of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and which retains those traits when propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue cult ...

, ''Prunus'' × ''yedoensis'' 'Somei-yoshino' or , is one of the most popular and widely planted cherry cultivars in temperate regions around the world today.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan .Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain and Europe''. Collins . 'Somei-yoshino' is a clone from a single tree, and has been propagated by

grafting Grafting or graftage is a horticulture, horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the roots ...

all over the world. 'Somei-yoshino' inherits ''Edo higan'''s quality of blooming before the leaves unfold and it growing into a large-sized tree. It also inherits the characteristics of the ''Oshima cherry'', which grows rapidly and has white flowers. These characteristics are favored and have become one of the most popular cultivars of cherry trees.Toshio Katsuki. (2015) ''Sakura''. pp40-42. 77.

Iwanami Shoten is a Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo.Louis Frédéric, ''Japan Encyclopedia'', Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 409. Iwanami Shoten was founded in 1913 by Iwanami Shigeo. Its first major publication was Natsume Sōseki's novel '' ...

. Toshio Katsuki. (2015) ''Sakura''. pp.178-182.

. One of the spots where ''P.'' × ''yedoensis'' grows wild is around Funabara Pass on the

Izu Peninsula The is a mountainous peninsula with a deeply indented coastline to the west of Tokyo on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the island of Honshu, Japan, the largest of the four main islands of Japan. Formerly known as Izu Province, Izu peninsu ...

, which is close to the birthplace of its paternal species, Oshima cherry, and the wild ''P.'' × ''yedoensis'' in the area and the cultivar developed from it are called 'Funabara-yoshino'.Toshio Katsuki. (2015) ''Sakura''. p64.

. On April 1, 2019, the Kazusa DNA Research Institute,

Shimane University — colloquially known as — is a national university in Japan. Although formally established as a university in 1949, Shima-dai's origins date back to the late 19th century. In 2003 it merged with the Shimane Medical University (established ...

and

Kyoto Prefectural University , or for short, is a public university in Japan. Its campus is located in Nakaragi-cho, Shimogamo, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansa ...

announced that they had decoded all the genetic information of 'Somei-Yoshino', and it was revealed that 'Somei-yoshino' descended from ''Edo higan'' and ''Oshima cherry'', as is commonly believed. It was also revealed that the two ancestral species separated into different species 5.52 million years ago, and that 'Somei-yoshino' was born by hybridization over 100 years ago. Although it was not recognized as a 'Somei-Yoshino' at the time of planting, the oldest verifiable record of a 'Somei-Yoshino' tree being planted is a record of its planting in the

Koishikawa Botanical Garden The is a botanical garden with an arboretum operated by the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Science. They are located at 3-7-1 Hakusan, Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan, and open daily except Mondays; an admission fee is charged. History The T ...

in 1775. There are also existing 'Somei-Yoshino' trees planted in Koishikawa Botanical Garden in 1875, in Kaiseizan Park in

Kōriyama is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 321,938 people in 141760 households, and a population density of 425 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Kōriyama is designated as a core city and ...

Fukushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture ...

in 1878, and in

Hirosaki Castle is a ''hirayama''-style Japanese castle constructed in 1611. It was the seat of the Tsugaru clan, a 47,000 ''koku'' '' tozama'' daimyō clan who ruled over Hirosaki Domain, Mutsu Province, in what is now central Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Jap ...

in 1882, which are sometimes referred to as the oldest 'Somei-Yoshino' trees. As of 2019, the Tree Health Research Society, Japan has recognized the oldest surviving 'Somei-Yoshino' in Japan, the one on Kaiseizan Park planted in 1878, based on the results of

radiocarbon dating 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 ...

and other scientific studies.

Names

In 1900, gave the Yoshino cherry the name ''Somei-yoshino'' after the famous place of cultivation, Somei village (current day

Toshima is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. It is one of the eight central wards of the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Located in the northern area of Tokyo, Toshima is bordered by the wards of Nerima, Itabashi, and Kita in the north and N ...

) and famous place of ''

Prunus jamasakura ''Prunus jamasakura'', the Japanese mountain cherry, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae that is said to be Endemism, endemic to Japan. However, it is also said to be native to Korea, and to China. Taxonomy The species was ...

'',

Mount Yoshino is the general name for the mountain ridge that stretches from the south bank of the Yoshino River in the town of Yoshino central Nara Prefecture, Japan, to the Ōmine Mountains, stretching for about eight kilometers from north-to-south, or the ...

. In 1901, the Yoshino cherry was given the scientific name ''Prunus yedoensis'' by

Jinzō Matsumura was a Japanese botanist. Biography Matsumura was born in Ibaraki Prefecture, of a samurai family. He took a great interest in botany as a young man. In 1883, he had been made assistant professor of botany in the University of Tokyo under Ry� ...

. However, after

Ernest Henry Wilson Ernest Henry "Chinese" Wilson (15 February 1876 – 15 October 1930), better known as E. H. Wilson, was a British plant collector and explorer who introduced a large range of about 2,000 Asian plant species to the Western culture, West; some si ...

suggested Yoshino cherry is a hybrid between ''Prunus subhirtella'' var. ''ascendens'' (''Edo higan'') and ''Prunus lannesiana'' (''Oshima cherry'') in 1916, Yoshino cherry came to be called ''Prunus'' × ''yedoensis''. As for the Korean native cherry called King cherry which was given a scientific name ''Prunus yedoensis'' var. ''nudiflora'' by a German botanist

Bernhard Adalbert Emil Koehne Bernhard Adalbert Emil Koehne (12 February 1848 – 12 October 1918) was a German botanist and dendrologist born near Striegau, a town known today as Strzegom, Poland. Koehne was a professor of botany in Berlin and was a leading authority o ...

in 1912 continues to be called ''Prunus yedoensis''. The Yoshino cherry has no scientific cultivar name because it is the original cultivar of this hybrid species ''Prunus'' × ''yedoensis''. A new name, 'Somei-yoshino' is proposed in accordance with other cultivars of ''Prunus'' × ''yedoensis''.

Description

''Prunus'' × ''yedoensis'' is a small,

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 Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

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, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

that grows to be (rarely ) tall at maturity. It grows well in

hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...

s 5–8, and does well in full sun and moist but well-drained soil. 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 alternately arranged, long and broad, with a serrated margin; they are often bronze-toned when newly emerged, becoming dark green by summer. 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 ...

emerge before the leaves in early spring; they are fragrant, in diameter, with five white or pale pink petals. The flowers grow in clusters of five or six together. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

, a small

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 na ...

, is a globose

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

in diameter; they are an important source of food for many small birds and mammals, including

robin Robin most commonly refers to several species of passerine birds. Robin may also refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), inclu ...

s and

thrushes The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flycat ...

. Although the fruit contain little flesh, it contains much concentrated red juice which can stain clothing and bricks. The fruit is only marginally sweet to the human palate.

Cultivation

With its fragrant, light pink flowers, manageable size, and elegant shape, the Yoshino cherry is often used as an

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

. Many

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s have been selected; notable examples include 'Akebono' (or 'America' in Japan), 'Ivensii', and 'Shidare Yoshino'. From the Edo period to the beginning of the Meiji period, gardeners and craftsman who made the village at Somei in Edo (now Komagome, Toshima ward, Tokyo) grew ''someiyoshino''. They first offered them as ''Yoshinozakura'', but in 1900, they were renamed ''someiyoshino'' by Dr. Fujino. This is sometimes rendered as 'Somei-Yoshino'. The Yoshino cherry was introduced to Europe and North America in 1902.Mitchell, A. F. (1974). ''A Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe''. Collins The

National Cherry Blossom Festival The National Cherry Blossom Festival (, ''Zenbei Sakura Matsuri'') is a spring celebration in Washington, D.C., commemorating the March 27, 1912, gift of Japanese cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo City to the city of Washington, D.C. ...

is a spring celebration in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, commemorating the 1912 gift of Japanese cherry trees from Tokyo to the city of Washington. They are planted in the Tidal Basin park. Several of 2,000 Japanese cherry trees given to the citizens of Toronto by the citizens of Tokyo in 1959 were planted in

High Park High Park is a municipal park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. High Park is a mixed recreational and natural park, with sporting facilities, cultural facilities, educational facilities, gardens, playgrounds and a zoo. One-third of the park remains ...

. Pilgrim Hill in New York City's

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

is popular for its groves of pale flowering Yoshino cherry trees as they burst into bloom in the spring.

Parental species

Most studies show that Yoshino cherry ('Somei-yoshino') is a hybrid between ''

'' (''Oshima cherry'') and ''Prunus pendula'' f. ''ascendens''. (syn. ''Prunus itosakura'', ''Prunus subhirtella'' var. ''ascendens'', ''Edo higan''). *In 1916,

concluded that Yoshino cherry strongly suggests a hybrid between ''Prunus subhirtella'' var. ''ascendens'' Wilson (Edo higan) and ''Prunus lannesiana'' Wilson (Oshima cherry). It has many characters of the latter and in its venation, pubescence and shape of the cupula resembles the former *In 1963, Takenaka assumed that Yoshino cherry is a hybrid between ''Prunus lannesiana'' var. ''speciose'' (Oshima cherry) and ''Prunus subhirtella'' var. ''pendula'' form ''ascendens'' (Edo higan). *In 1986, Takafumi Kaneko et al. carried out restriction endonuclease analysis on chloroplast ctDNA. Yoshino cherry showed no interplant variation of ctDNA and had the same ctDNA as P. pendula (Edo higan), differing from P. lannesiana (Oshima cherry) by a single HindIII restriction site. This findings suggests that P. pendula is female parent of P. yedoensis. *In 1995, Hideki Innan et al. conducted DNA fingerprinting study using different kinds of probes, M13 repeat sequence and (GACA)₄ synthetic oligonucleotide and concluded that Yoshino cherry was produced only once through hybridization between ''Prunus lannesiana'' (Oshima cherry) and ''Prunus pendula'' (Edo higan) and that this particular hybrid plant has been spread vegetatively all over Japan, *In 2014, Shuri Kato et al. conducted molecular analysis using nuclear simple sequence repeat (SSR) polymorphisms to trace cultivar origins and Bayesian clustering based on the STRUCTURE analysis using SSR genotypes revealed that Yoshino cherry is a hybrid between ''Prunus pendula'' f. ''ascendens'' (Edo higan) and ''Prunus lannesiana'' var. ''speciosa'' (Oshima cherry) although there was also a small and nonsignificant association with ''Prunus jamasakura''. The proportion of each species is Edo higan 47%, Oshima cherry 37%, and ''jamasakura'' 11%. Online Resource

/ref> *In 2015, Ikuo Nakamura et al. analyzed sequences of

intron An intron is any nucleotide sequence within a gene that is not expressed or operative in the final RNA product. The word ''intron'' is derived from the term ''intragenic region'', i.e., a region inside a gene."The notion of the cistron .e., gen ...

19 and

exon An exon is any part of a gene that will form a part of the final mature RNA produced by that gene after introns have been removed by RNA splicing. The term ''exon'' refers to both the DNA sequence within a gene and to the corresponding sequence ...

20 of

PolA1 DNA polymerase alpha catalytic subunit is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''POLA1'' gene. Function This gene encodes the p180 catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase α-primase. Pol α has limited processivity and lacks 3′ exonucle ...

. One of two exon 20 sequences found in Yoshino cherry was the same as that of P. pendula (Edo higan), whereas the other sequence was shared with several taxa in seven wild species, including P. jamasakura (Yamazakura) and P. lannesiana (Oshima cherry). Yoshino cherry contained two different haplotypes of the intron 19 sequences; one was the same as that of Oshima cherry. While another haplotype of Yoshino cherry was different from that of Edo higan by two SNPs but identical to one of two haplotypes of P. pendula ‘Komatsuotome,’ which is a cultivar of Edo higan. These results indicated that Yoshino cherry probably originated by the hybridization of cultivars derived from Edo higan and Oshima cherry.

Origin debates

*In 1908, a French missionary Taquet discovered a native cherry in Jeju islands, Korea and in 1912 a German botanist Koehne gave it a scientific name ''Prunus yedoensis'' var. ''nudiflora''. Although this species called Eishu zakura is a variation of Yoshino cherry ('Somei-yoshino'), from then it was misrepresented that Yoshino cherry was growing naturally in Jeju Island. *In 1933, the Japanese botanist Gen'ichi Koizumi reported that Yoshino cherry originated on

Jeju island Jeju Island (Jeju language, Jeju/) is South Korea's largest island, covering an area of , which is 1.83% of the total area of the country. Alongside outlying islands, it is part of Jeju Province and makes up the majority of the province. The i ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. Koreans claimed that the Japanese stole Yoshino cherry from South Korea at the time of Japanese annexation of Korea. *In 1962, Yo Takenaka ruled out the possibility of Korean origin by the morphological study. *In 1995 DNA fingerprinting technology was used to conclude that Yoshino cherry grown in many parts of Japan under the name ''Prunus'' × ''yedoensis'' is indeed clonally propagated from the same hybrid offspring of ''Prunus lannesiana'' (''Oshima cherry'') and ''Prunus pendula'' (''Edo higan''), which confirms the 1991 conclusion given by Iwasaki Fumio that ''Prunus'' × ''yedoensis'' originated around 1720–1735 by artificial crossing of these species in

Edo (Tokyo) Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogun ...

. Oshima cherry is an endemic species found only around

Izu Islands The are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshū, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages; all part of Tokyo Prefecture. The largest is Izu Ōshima, usually called simply Ōsh ...

, Izu and

Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...

s not around Korean Peninsula. *In 2007, a study conducted on the comparison of Japanese Yoshino cherry and Korean King cherry concluded that the trees native to these two places can be categorized as distinct species. It was confirmed that South Korea's claim was false. *In 2016, the phylogenetic analysis of nrDNA ITS data and the cpDNA haplotype network analysis suggested that independent origin between King cherry and yoshino cherry, respectively. *In 2016, a new scientific name ''Cerasus'' × ''nudiflora'' was given to King cherry to distinguish it from Yoshino cherry (''Prunus'' × ''yedoensis'').

Other cultivars

''Prunus'' × ''yedoensis'' has many cultivars other than 'Somei-yoshino' (Yoshino cherry). *‘Amagi-yoshino’ (天城吉野) *‘America’ (アメリカ) (or 'Akebono' in the U.S.) *‘Candida’ (薄毛大島, Usuge-oshima) *‘Funabara-yoshino’ (船原吉野) *‘Hayazaki-oshima’ (早咲大島) *‘Izu-yoshino’ (伊豆吉野) *‘Kichijouji’ (吉祥寺) *‘Kurama-zakura’ (鞍馬桜) *‘Mikado-yoshino’ (御帝吉野) *‘Mishima-zakura’ (三島桜) *‘Morioka-pendula’ (盛岡枝垂, Morioka-shidare) *‘Naniwa-zakura’ (浪速桜) *‘Pendula’ (枝垂大臭桜), Shidare-ookusai-zakura *‘Perpendens’ (枝垂染井吉野, Shidare-somei-yoshino) *‘Pilosa’ (毛大島桜, Ke-oshima-zakura) *‘Sakabai’ (仙台吉野, Sendai-yoshino) *‘Sakuyahime’ (咲耶姫) *‘Sasabe-zakura’ (笹部桜) *‘Shouwa-zakura’ (昭和桜) *‘Somei-higan’ (染井彼岸) *‘Somei-nioi’ (染井匂) *‘Sotorihime’ (衣通姫) *‘Suruga-zakura’ (駿河桜) *‘Syuzenzi-zakura’ (修善寺桜) *‘Waseyoshino’ (早生吉野) *‘Somei-beni’ (染井紅)

References

External links

Washington DC Cherry Blossom Watch

Timelapse Video of Yoshino Cherry Blossoms Blooming
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prunus x yedoensis yedoensis Cherries Cherry blossom Flora of Japan Garden plants of Asia Ornamental trees Trees of Japan Taxa named by Jinzō Matsumura