PRUNUS SUBHIRTELLA MIQUEL Fam. Rosaceae LEAVES DESCRIPTION Oval, dark-green leaves that grow up to 8 cm long. Before It develops into a small tree the beginning of flowering, the or bush, that is erect, round- leaves turn bronze before they ed and occasionally expand- fall off. ed; it can exceed 6 metres in height. FRUITS Ovoid, 8-mm long fruits, similar to cherries; initially red, they la- ter turn almost black. HABITAT Native to Japan, the main highlight of this plant is its splendid unscented flow- ering. BARK It sports the typical glossy and decorative bark of cherry trees. DISTRIBUTION Commonly found in the tem- perate regions of the northern hemisphere, it grows mostly at the verge of woods and in thickets but it can adapt to a INTERESTING FACTS variety of different habitats, Prunus Subhirtella is a natural including sandy shores, rocky hybrid, referred to by the Royal areas and cliffs. Horticultural Society as Prunus x Subhirtella. In Japan, spring coincides with Hanami, the world-famous cherry blossom festival. The sakuras are the FLOWERS wonderful cherry blossoms Small semi-double flowers of that paint the entire Japanese a white colour, tinged with li- landscape pink. ght-pink, 2 cm wide; they blo- Hanami is a thousand-year-old om in clusters of 2-5 cupped world-renowned festival du- specimens. They appear in No- ring which people spend days vember-December and bloom immersed in nature to witness again in March and on mild the blossoming of cherry tre- winter days. Its flowering is es. In Japanese, “hana” means different from other flowering flowers and “me” means to cherry trees in that it slowly look, to observe. ROOTS begins, if the winter is not too harsh, already in November and Fairly shallow. December and then fully blo- oms in March. #ZOLLEREALI.