Cerasus incisa var. incisa f. chrysantha ("Fujikikuzakura")

Japanese name: フジキクザクラ （富士菊桜）
Scientific name: Cerasus incisa var. incisa f. chrysantha

[Overview]
A deciduous small tree.
The trunk branches from the base, giving an umbrella-shaped crown.
The bark is purplish brown, irregularly and shallowly cracked, and dotted with lenticels arranged horizontally.
By the time of flowering the young shoots have unfolded considerably and are reddish-brown-tinged yellow-green.
The leaves are obovate, 1.5–4 cm long and 1–2 cm wide; the tip is pointed, and the base is rounded to obtuse.
The leaf margin has doubly serrate, incised teeth that are somewhat sharp.
Both sides of the leaf are hairy.
The petiole has somewhat ascending hairs, and two nectar glands are borne at the base of the leaf.
The flowers open at the same time as the leaves unfold.
The flowers are borne 1–2 per umbel in the leaf axils, hanging downward; they are pale pink, about 3 cm across.
A single tree bears a mixture of double, two-tiered and three-tiered flowers.
The double flowers have about 50 petals, about 100 stamens and about 30 pistils.
The two-tiered flowers have about 150 petals, about 60 stamens and about 20 pistils.
The three-tiered flowers have about 300–400 petals, about 150 stamens and about 50 pistils.
The style is hairy.
The outermost petals often turn into sepals.
The calyx tube is funnel-shaped to bell-shaped, and the calyx lobes are triangular to pentagonal with irregularly incised margins bearing marginal hairs, and sometimes there are accessory sepals.
The flower stalk is 5 mm or less, and the pedicel is 2.5–3 cm long and densely covered with spreading hairs.

[History]
It was discovered in 1962 by Takamura Kuwataro on Mt. Tenshigatake in Shizuoka.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by cuttings or grafting.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained site.
If it grows into a large tree in a garden and becomes a problem, it is good to control the size of the tree by restricting the space for the roots to spread with a fabric pot.
While still a young tree, protect it from frost by, for example, laying straw around the base.
Also, it is better not to cut the branches needlessly if there is no need.
It suffers from many pests and diseases, so care is needed.

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