Prunus emarginata
Prunus emarginata, the bitter cherry or Oregon cherry, is a species of Prunus native to western North America.
Description
Prunus emarginata is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to tall; west of the Cascade Range, it commonly reaches tall. It has a slender oval trunk and smooth gray to reddish-brown bark with horizontal lenticels. The leaves are long, thin, egg-shaped, and yellowish-green with unevenly sized teeth on either side.The flowers are small, diameter, with five white petals and numerous hairlike stamens; they are almond-scented, produced in clusters in spring, and pollinated by insects.
The fruit is a juicy red or purple cherry 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 Brew. A larger tree; young shoots and leaves downy. Reddish-brown bark with light horizontal bands resembling water birch. Oregon north to British Columbia, mainly coastal.
Similar species
Distribution and habitat
It is native to western North America from British Columbia south to Baja California, and east as far as western Wyoming and New Mexico. It is often found in recently disturbed areas or open woods on nutrient-rich soil.Ecology
Mammals, deer and livestock forage on the leaves. The cherries are eaten by some birds, 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, elegant sphinx, Lorquin's admiral, pale tiger swallowtail, small-eyed sphinx, spring azure, twin-spotted sphinx, and western tiger swallowtail.