Prunus pumila
Prunus pumila, commonly called sand cherry, is a North American species of cherry in the rose family. It is widespread in eastern and central Canada from New Brunswick west to Saskatchewan and the northern United States from Maine to Montana, south as far as Colorado, Kansas, Indiana, and Virginia, with a few isolated populations in Tennessee and Utah. It grows in sandy locations such as shorelines and dunes.
Prunus pumila is a deciduous shrub that grows to tall depending on the variety. It forms dense clonal colonies by sprouts from the root system. The leaves are leathery, long, with a serrated margin. The flowers are in diameter with five white petals and 25–30 stamens. They are produced in small clusters of two to four. The fruit is a small cherry in diameter, ripening to dark purple in early summer.
;VarietiesPrunus pumila var. besseyi Gleason, western sand cherry Saskatchewan, Manitoba, western Ontario, south to Colorado and KansasPrunus pumila var. depressa Gleason, eastern sand cherryOntario, Québec, New Brunswick south to PennsylvaniaPrunus pumila var. pumila, Great Lakes sand cherryshores of Great LakesPrunus pumila var. susquehanae Jaeger, Susquehana sand cherryfrom Manitoba east to Maine, south to TennesseePrunus × cistena is a hybrid of Prunus cerasifera and P. pumila. It was developed by Niels Ebbesen Hansen of South [Dakota State University] in 1910. They grow to be about tall and can live for up to 20 years.