Read about Prunus serotina in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Prunus serotina, Ehrh. (Padus serotina, Agardh. Cerasus serotina, Loisel.). Wild Black Cherry. Strong straight tree, reaching 100 ft., with very dark brown bitter aromatic bark: lvs. oblong, lance-oblong or oblong-ovate, tapering to a point, thickish and firm, shining above, with many small incurved callous teeth: fls. in long, loose racemes, appearing when the lvs. are nearly full grown: fr. size of a pea, purple-black, bitterish, ripening in late summer and Sept. Generally distributed from Nova Scotia to Dakota, south to Fla. and Texas. S.S. 4:159. F.E. 32:533.—A valuable timber tree, furnishing lumber for cabinet work and house finishings; also a fine lawn tree. It is much used in forestry plantings. Var. pendula, Dipp., has drooping branches. G.Z. 26:241. Var. pyramidalis, Zabel, is of narrow pyramidal growth. Var. variegata, Hort., has yellow-marked lvs. Var. cartilaginea, Dipp. (var. carthagena, Hort., by error. P. cartilaginea, Lehm.), is a handsome form with very long, shining lvs. Var. asplenifolia, Hort. (Cerasus serotina var. asplenifolia, Kirchn.), has narrow deeply toothed lvs. For a note on the nomenclature of P. serotina, see No. 72. Var. neomontana, Sudw. (Padus serotina var. neomontana, Small), of the high mountains in the southern Alleghanies, has ample leathery coarsely serrate lvs. which are pale or whitish beneath, stout few-fld. diverging racemes, and sepals and filaments pubescent. The P. serotina group is now held to include other species in the southern states and southward, but apparently they are not in cult, outside botanic gardens: P. eximia, Small (Padus eximia, Small), differs from P. serotina in having sepals or calyx-lobes deltoid and slightly broader than long rather than ovate, and lvs. delicately reticulated rather than plain. River-valleys, Texas. P. Cuthbertii, Small (Padus Cuthbertii, Small), differs from P. serotina in having young parts (young shoots, raceme-axis and pedicels) pubescent rather than glabrous: lvs. obovate and blunt, finely and rather sparingly pubescent beneath and becoming glabrate and glaucous with age: drupe red. Woods, Ga. P. alabamensis, Mohr (Padus alabamensis, Small), is distinguished from P. Cuthbertii in having lvs. ovate, oblong, or elliptic and acute or acuminate, and drupe purple. Mountains, Ga., Ala. P. australis, Beadle (Padus australis, Small), has young parts pubescent: lvs. not glaucous but densely and permanently clothed with colored tomentum. Ala. P. Capollin, Koehne (P. Capuli, Cav. Cerasus Capollin, DC.), from Mex., a very large tree with long and slender pedicels: lvs. lanceolate, long-acuminate: fr. large. P. salicifolia, HBK., in S. Amer. and probably not in Mex. as reported: evergreen, differing little from P. Capuli and presumably in need of closer definition: apparently not in cult., although the name occurs in horticultural literature.
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