Prunus fasciculata

(Torrey) A. Gray

Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 10: 70. 1874.

Common names: Desert almond
Basionym: Emplectocladus fasciculatus Torrey Proc. Amer. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 4: 192. 1851
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 9. Treatment on page 370. Mentioned on page 356, 359.

Shrubs, suckering, much branched, 10–20(–30) dm, thorny. Twigs with axillary end buds, glabrous or canescent. Leaves deciduous; sessile; blade oblanceolate to linear, 0.5–2 × 0.1–0.2(–0.4) cm, base long-attenuate, margins nearly entire or obscurely and remotely serrulate in distal 1/3, teeth blunt to sharp, sometimes glandular, apex rounded to acute, surfaces puberulent or glabrous or low-papillate (var. punctata). Inflorescences solitary flowers or 2-flowered fascicles. Pedicels 0–4 mm, glabrous. Flowers unisexual, plants dioecious, blooming at leaf emergence; hypanthium campanulate, 1.5–3 mm, glabrous externally; sepals erect-spreading, triangular, 0.7–1 mm, margins entire, surfaces glabrous; petals white to yellowish, elliptic, obovate, or suborbiculate, 1.4–2.5(–4) mm; ovaries hairy. Drupes gray to red-brown, ovoid, ± compressed, 7–15 mm, densely puberulent; hypanthium tardily deciduous; mesocarps leathery to dry; stones ovoid, ± flattened.

Distribution

V9 605-distribution-map.jpg

Ariz., Calif., Nev., Utah, nw Mexico.

Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Selected References

None.

Key

1 Leaf blades sparsely to densely puberulent, not papillate. Prunus fasciculata var. fasciculata
1 Leaf blades glabrous, sometimes papillate. Prunus fasciculata var. punctata