Prunus himalayana

Not to be confused with Prunus himalaica.

Prunus himalayana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rosaceae
Genus:	Prunus
Subgenus:	Prunus subg. Padus
Species:	P. himalayana
Binomial name
Prunus himalayana J.Wen
Synonyms
Maddenia himalaica Hook.f. & Thomson Maddenia himalaica var. glabrifolia H. Hara

Prunus himalayana, called jyokun shin in Tibetan and 喜马拉雅臭樱 in Chinese, is a species of Prunus native to Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Tibet. It prefers to grow 2,800 to 4,200 m above sea level in the Himalayas. As Maddenia himalaica it was the type species for the now unrecognized genus Maddenia.

Description

Prunus himalayana trees are 3 to 8 m tall, infrequently reaching 10 m. Branches over two years old are pubescent and have brownish-purple to brownish-red shiny bark. Branchlets under one year old have densely brown villous (eventually becoming glabrous) brownish-red bark. Winter buds are purplish-red and ovoid, featuring scales which are externally brown villous to subglabrous. Stipules are lorate-lanceolate in form and abaxially pubescent, with glandular serrate margins and acuminate apices. Leaves are borne on densely brown villous petioles that are 2 to 5 mm long. Leaves are adaxially dark green and glabrous with impressed veins, abaxially pale green and densely brown villous especially on prominent veins but sometimes glabrous away from the veins, which number from 15 to 20. Margin teeth have an apical gland when young (see photograph above). The plants produce different leaves depending on whether the shoots bearing them are sterile or flowering. Sterile shoots have leaves that are narrowly elliptic, oblong, or rarely ovate, 1.8 to 5 cm wide and 5 to 15 cm long, with subrounded to cordate bases, aristate biserrate margins, and long acuminate to caudate apices. Flowering shoots have leaves that are ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 2 to 5 cm wide and 5 to 9.5 cm long, cordate bases, incised and simple or biserrate margins, and long acuminate to caudate apices.