April Tree-of-the-Month

Cherry 2 Prunus spp.

1 3 Most of the cherry trees growing at the Arboretum are grown 4 for their flowers, not fruit, and are native to several countries in Asia including Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan.

Parts of a cherry flower 5 1 petal 2 pistils and stamens 3 oval petal with indentation 4 bud 5 pedicel 6 bracts 8 7 6

7 calyx Illustrated Floral 8 sepal Morphology by Matsuoka (1758)

The flowering time of cherries, like most spring flowering plants, is dependent on a combination of day/night length and temperature. Different types have different blooming times. Most cherries have five petals but some have as many as fifty. Bud and flower color ranges from red to pink to white. Flowering cherries have ornamental features beyond their blossoms. Summer and fall foliage as well as ornamental bark, add year-round interest to the tree. On some, the lenticels (porous lines through which gases are exchanged) form distinctive patterns on the trunk and branches.

125 Arborway Boston, MA 02130-3500 617-384-5209 www.arboretum.harvard.edu April Flowers The different cherry trees bloom at various times throughout the month, so visit often. In addition to the plants below, there are beautiful trees on the west side of Peters Hill.

Sargent cherry cultivar t 1 e H UNNEWELL re t VISITOR CENTER ARBORWAY S Prunus sargentii ‘Columnaris’ GATE e (Main Entrance)

entr 2 Okame cherry C Prunus ‘Okame’

3 European bird cherry

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G ARDEN M b o r Prunus subhirtella ‘Pendula’ w a y / R LARZ A NDERSON o BONSAI COLLECTION u te 5 Yoshino cherry (like those found in 2 03 Washington DC) CENTRE STREET 3 FOREST HILLS Dana GATE GATE Greenhouse 2 Prunus x yedoensis BRADLEY ROSACEOUS COLLECTION 6 Judd’s cherry t ad t e Hills Ro e e e r orest t F r Prunus x juddii S 6 t e S r t BUSSEY HILL 4 5 n n 1 o

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s A little history... a W Forest Hills Oa k t Pa e Orange Line th C e For centuries, the Japanese have valued cherry tree blossoms, calledEXPLORER’S sakura . Ther beauty h t in GARDEN S e V s a e h l t h of the flowers and their brief life at the beginning of springle symbolize the essencea t of P u y a P R o o th ll ad S e w W ASHINGTON h k a human’s short, but well-lived life. Cherry blossomat festivals are a special featurec of STREET r P h a Conife t l a GATE P B Japanese life. Festival activities include playing games, listening to musicalch instruments, ee singing, painting, and writing poetry. B

In the late 1800s, the Arnold Arboretum was responsible for some of these East W ALTER STREET SOUTH STREET GATE HEMLOCK HILL GATE Asian introductions of flowering cherries intoBUS SENorthY STREET America.Prunus sargentii was first GATE B t ussey introduced to the Arboretum in 1890e byP ETDr.ERS HWilliamILL S. SBigelow,tr who sent seeds from e eet r t GATE S r Japan. Two years later, in 1892, Charlese S. Sargent (the first director of the Arnold lt W ELD HILL a POPLAR Arboretum) also sent seeds backW from his Japanese expedition. Before theseGATE first t e e tr introductions, the diversity of flowering cherries available in the earlyS 1900s in the US was h t u o limited. There were several native flowering cherry trees in this countryS before, such as the Prunus serotina (black cherry) and Prunus emarginataPETERS HILL (bitter cherry); howeverN they were not as showy and exquisitely beautiful as the East Asian varieties. Shining spring day

Falling cherry blossomsM ENDUM STREET GATE With my calm mind mi. mi. mi. mi. .25 km. .50 km...... ~ Haiku by Kino Tomonari