Cerasus speciosa f. plena ("Yaenooshimazakura")

Japanese name: ヤエノオオシマザクラ （八重の大島桜）
Scientific name: Cerasus speciosa f. plena

[Overview]
A deciduous tree up to 15 m tall.
The bark is purple-black to gray-purple, with conspicuous long, horizontal brown lenticels.
The branches spread horizontally, giving an umbrella-shaped crown.
First-year branches are hairless.
Young leaves are green and not tinged with red.
The leaves are obovate to obovate-elliptic, 9–12 cm long and 6.5–8 cm wide, with a tail-like pointed tip and a rounded base.
Both surfaces of the leaves are glossy and hairless.
The petiole is 1.5–3 cm long and hairless, with 2 nectar glands on its upper part.
The leaf margin has serrations whose tips extend into long awns.
The flowers open at the same time as the leaves unfold.
The flowers are borne 3–4 to a corymb arising from the leaf axils, and are white and double.
The flowers are fragrant.
There are as many as 19–27 petals.
The calyx tube is cylindrical, 7–8 mm long.
The margins of the sepal lobes vary from serrated to entire.
The flower stalk is 1.5–2.5 cm long, and the pedicels are 2–4 cm long.
The fruit is spherical, 11–13 mm in diameter, and ripens to black-purple; it is bitter, but some become sweet and sour.

[History]
It was discovered in the southern Izu Peninsula and is also found on Izu-Oshima.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from cuttings or grafting.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained site.
If it grows into a large tree in a garden and becomes a problem, restrict the space available to the roots with a fabric pot to control the size of the tree.
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 the branches needlessly.
Pests and diseases are numerous, so care is needed.

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