Cerasus incisa var. kinkiensis ("Kinkimamezakura")

Japanese name: キンキマメザクラ （近畿豆桜）
Scientific name: Cerasus incisa var. kinkiensis

[Overview]
A deciduous shrub to 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.
First-year branches are hairless.
The leaves are obovate to broadly obovate, 3–6 cm long and 2–4 cm wide, with a long tail-like pointed tip and a rounded to wedge-shaped base.
The leaf margins have sharp, incised double serration.
Sparse appressed hairs grow on both surfaces of the leaves.
The petiole is 6–8 mm long and has ascending hairs.
Two nectar glands are borne on the upper part of the petiole or at the base of the leaf.
It flowers at the same time as the leaves unfold, or slightly earlier.
The flowers are borne downward, usually two at a time, in umbels arising from the leaf axils; they are white to pale pink, 5-petaled, and 1.8–2 cm across.
The petals are ovate to obovate, 8–10 mm long and 4–9 mm wide.
There are about 26 stamens, only about half as long as the calyx tube.
The style is 13–16 mm long.
The calyx tube is cylindrical and 7–10 mm long; the sepal lobes are lanceolate to elliptic, usually entire, and sparsely hairy.
The flower stalk is very short, and the pedicels are 1–2 cm long, hairless or with ascending spreading hairs.
The fruit is about 7 mm across and ripens black.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed, by cuttings, or by grafting.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained site.
If it grows into a large tree in the garden and becomes a problem, it is good to restrict the space available to the roots with a fabric pot in order to control the size of the tree.
While it is 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 when it is not necessary.
Pests and diseases are numerous, so care is needed.

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