Cerasus maximowiczii (miyama cherry)

Japanese name: ミヤマザクラ （深山桜）
Scientific name: Cerasus maximowiczii

[Overview]
A deciduous tree up to 20 m tall.
It is found in subalpine forests and forest edges, and also in serpentine areas and on limestone.
The trunk is purple-brown, with conspicuous long lenticels arranged horizontally.
The first-year branches are somewhat densely hairy.
The leaves are obovate-oblong, 4–7 cm long and 2.8–4.5 cm wide, with a tail-like pointed tip and a broadly wedge-shaped to truncate base bearing 2 nectar glands.
Both surfaces of the leaves are somewhat densely covered with appressed hairs.
The petiole is 1–1.5 cm long and densely covered with brown appressed hairs.
The leaf margins have sharp double serrations ending in glands.
It flowers after the leaves have fully expanded.
The flowers are borne 4–10 per raceme or corymb in the leaf axils; they are white, 5-petaled, and 0.6–2 cm across.
The petals are broadly elliptic with rounded tips, 6–8 mm long, and are not notched at the tip.
There are about 34–38 stamens, almost the same length as the style.
The calyx tube is bell-shaped and 3.5 mm long, and the sepal lobes are oblong, 2.5–3 mm long, with serrated margins.
The axis of the inflorescence is densely covered with brown hairs and bears bracts 7 mm long, which remain during fruiting.
The bract margins have fine teeth.
The pedicels are 1–2.2 cm long and densely covered with brown hairs.
The fruit is spherical, 9 mm in diameter, and ripens to red-purple or black-purple; the flesh is bitter.
The fruit stalk has brown hairs.

[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 advisable to control its size by restricting the space for the roots to spread with a fabric pot.
While it is a young tree, protect it from frost by spreading straw around the base, for example.
Also, it is better not to cut branches needlessly.
Pests and diseases are numerous, so care is needed.

[Notes]
The Miyama-zakura group is presumed to be the most primitive group within the cherry genus.

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