Cerasus katonis ("Shin'eizakura")

Japanese name: シンエイザクラ （信英桜）
Scientific name: Cerasus katonis

[Overview]
A deciduous tree growing to about 7 m.
First-year branches are dark purplish brown with many lenticels.
The young leaves are reddish.
The leaves are obovate to obovate-elliptic, 6–9 cm long and 3.5–5 cm wide, with a tail-like pointed tip and a rounded to wedge-shaped base.
The upper surface of the leaf has sparse hairs or is almost hairless.
The underside has hairs on the veins.
The petiole is 1.7–2.5 cm long, densely covered with spreading white soft hairs, and has 2 nectar glands on the upper part.
The leaf margin has single serration with teeth ending in glands, mixed in part with double serration.
The flowers open at the same time as the leaves unfold.
The flowers are borne 2–4 in an umbel arising in the leaf axils; they are white, sometimes tinged with red, with 5 petals.
The petals are about 1.3 cm long and open flat, and many have a shallowly 2-lobed tip.
The inflorescence bears broadly obovate bracts 5 mm long and 3 mm wide, which remain even in the fruiting period.
The upper edge of the bracts is finely split.
The flower stalk is 1–1.5 cm long and elongates after flowering, and the pedicel is 1.5–2.2 cm; both are densely covered with spreading white soft hairs.
The calyx tube is cylindrical, and the calyx lobes are triangular and open flat at flowering.
The fruit is spherical and ripens to blackish purple.
It can be distinguished from Oyama-zakura by the dense white soft hairs on the petioles, flower stalks and pedicels, and by its white flowers.
It can be distinguished from Miyama-zakura by its umbel-like inflorescence, the white, spreading hairs on the petioles, flower stalks and pedicels, the petals whose bases are not claw-shaped, and the serration that is not incised.

[History]
This cherry is found only on the summit of Mt. Miyoshiyama in Kaminoyama, Yamagata.
At the time of its discovery it was presumed to be a hybrid between Oyama-zakura and Miyama-zakura, but it was later treated as an independent species.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed, by cuttings, or by grafting.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained location.
If it becomes a problem by growing into a large tree in a garden, it is good to restrict the space for 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, for example by 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.

[Notes]
The scientific name and Japanese name of Shin'ei-zakura were dedicated to Kato Nobuhide, who surveyed the flora of Yamagata.

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