A dwarfish, bush-like plant attaining a height of ten or twelve
feet, vigorous, dense-topped, hardy; trunk and branches stocky;
branches smooth, grayish-brown; branchlets many, of medium
thickness and length, thickly overspread with short pubescence,
with short internodes, roughish, with a few large, raised
lenticels near the base.
Leaves numerous, two and one-eighth inches long, one and one-half
inches wide, folded upward or flattened, broad-oval to obovate,
velvety; upper surface dull, dark green, rugose; lower surface
thickly pubescent, with a prominent midrib and veins; apex
abruptly pointed; margin serrate; petiole three-sixteenths inch in
length, reddish, pubescent, of medium thickness, with from twelve
to fourteen small, globose, yellow glands, usually at the base of
the blade.
Buds very small, short, pointed, free, arranged as lateral buds
and in clusters on small, short spurs; leaf-scars not prominent;
season of bloom early; flowers appear with the leaves, white,
thirteen-sixteenths inch across; borne singly or in pairs;
pedicels short, thick, glabrous; calyx-tube reddish, campanulate,
glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, serrate, slightly pubescent,
erect; petals white, roundish-ovate, entire, with short claws;
anthers tinged with red; pistil pubescent at the base, longer than
the stamens, often defective.
Fruit matures in mid-season; a half-inch in diameter, roundish,
slightly compressed; cavity deep, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow;
apex depressed, with adherent stigma; color currant-red; dots
numerous, small, grayish, obscure; stem thickish, one-eighth to
one-quarter of an inch in length, pubescent; skin thick, tender,
adheres slightly to the pulp, covered with light pubescence; flesh
light red, with light red juice, stringy, melting, sprightly,
sour; good in quality; stone clinging, one-quarter of an inch
long, one-eighth inch wide, oval, slightly pointed, with smooth
surfaces.
The habitat of _Prunus tomentosa_ is probably Central Asia though it is
now to be found growing spontaneously in East Tibet and the Chinese
provinces of Setschuan, Hupe, Kansu and perhaps Tochlii.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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