Prinsepia

Plant Characteristics

Origin:	✈	?

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	?"?" is not in the list (sun, part-sun, shade, unknown) of allowed values for the "Exposure" property.
Water:	◍	?"?" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property.

Scientific Names

Read about Prinsepia in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Prinsepia (after Macaire-Prinsep, botanist at Geneva, Switzerland). Including Plagiospermum. Rosaceae, subfamily Pruneae. Woody plants, chiefly grown for their early-appearing flowers and bright green dense foliage. Deciduous shrubs: branches with axillary spines: pith lamellate: lvs. alternate, petioled, entire or serrulate; stipules small, lanceolate: fls. 1-4 in the axils of last year's branches or in axillary racemes; calyx with cup-shaped tube and broad and short lobes imbricate in bud; petals 5, spreading, suborbicular, clawed; stamens 10 or many, with short filaments; ovary superior, 1-celled, the style inserted near the base, with capitate stigma; ovules 2: fr. a drupe with a smooth or slightly fissured stone.—Three species on the Himalayas and in N. E. Asia to N. W. China. The edible frs. are gathered in their native countries. The two prinsepias in cultivation are low spiny slender-branched shrubs with narrow bright green foliage and white or yellow flowers appearing with the leaves in early spring along the branches of the previous year and followed by purple or black cherry-like drupes which, however, so far have been produced only sparingly in cultivation; possibly the flowers, though apparently perfect, are functionally dioecious or they need insects for fertilization, which are wanting at the very early flowering time of this shrub. The shrubs have proved perfectly hardy at the Arnold Arboretum, only the flowers suffer sometimes during cold weather; they are among the earliest shrubs to burst into leaf and are conspicuous by their bright green foliage when most other shrubs are still bare. They seem to grow best in a sunny and open position and in well-drained soil. Propagation is by seeds sown after maturity or stratified and sown in spring or by greenwood cuttings under glass; also by layers. P. utilis, Royle. Shrub, to 5 ft. : spines 1-1 1/2 in. long, usually leafy: lvs. elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, entire or serrulate, 1 1/2-4 in. long: fls. pedicelled, in axillary racemes, white, about 1/2in. across: fr. purple, 1/2-3/4in. across, edible. Himalayas. —Apparently not in cult. in this country and probably not hardy north of Washington, D. C. Alfred Rehder. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

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Propagation

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Pests and diseases

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Gallery

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Prinsepia. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Prinsepia QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)