What is the relationship between cherries, cherry blossoms, and cherries?

Many people have wondered whether the cherries in the fruit store are cherries. From a taxonomic point of view, they are not the same species. The Chinese name of cherry is cherry, and cherries is the transliteration of the English word "cherries". It is the fruit of the European sweet cherry Prunus avium.

Image source: pixabay

Both plants belong to the Rosaceae family. Some documents classify them as Cerasus, while others classify them as the subgenus Cerasus of the genus Prunus. Cherry is a native plant in my country and has been on people's tables as early as the Pre-Qin period. The Qi Min Yao Shu of the Northern Wei Dynasty described the method of cherry cultivation, which is the earliest known document record of artificial cherry cultivation.

1. China's "cherry" and "sakura"

For the ancient people in the Central Plains, cherries bloom and bear fruit earlier than other fruit trees. According to the Gregorian calendar, cherries in the northern region usually bloom in March and bear fruit in May. Because of this, the ancients regarded cherries as the first ripening fruit of the year and took them to offer sacrifices to the ancestral temple, which was called "Jianxin".

Image source: pixabay

The skin of cherry fruit is very thin, and it is easy to deteriorate after being bumped. It is not resistant to storage and transportation, so it is now mainly sold in the place of production. European sweet cherry fruit is large, thick-skinned, easy to store and transport, and more convenient to sell all over the country and even all over the world. European sweet cherry is native to Europe. It differs from cherry in fruit size and taste, and the flower is also different. The sepals of European sweet cherry are similar in length to the calyx tube, and they are reflexed after flowering, while the sepals of cherry are not reflexed, and the length is only about half of the calyx tube, but the stamens are quite long, and it seems to be obviously longer than the corolla.

Image source: pixabay

Since we are talking about cherry flowers, we have to answer another question: What is the relationship between cherry and cherry blossom? First of all, the flowers of cherry trees can be considered cherry blossoms, because the definition of "cherry blossoms" is not clear. According to the broadest definition, it can refer to all ornamental species of the subgenus Sakura, including cherry flowers.

Image source: pixabay

Cherry blossoms are more beautiful than snow when in full bloom, and have been a favorite ornamental plant since ancient times. Li Bai once wrote, "I haven't returned home for several springs since I left, and I have seen cherry blossoms five times through the jade window." Bai Juyi wrote, "The cherries blossomed like snow last night, and my hair is as white as frost this year." Yuan Zhen also wrote a poem called "Cherry Blossoms," which reads, "Cherry blossoms, one branch, two branches, and millions of flowers. People once stood by the flowerbed to pick the flowers, their torn silk skirts were as red as fire."

2. The Origin of Japanese Cherry Blossoms

Cherry blossoms belong to the broad sense of cherry blossoms, but what does cherry blossoms in the narrow sense refer to?

It refers to species in the subgenus Sakura that are mainly used for viewing and whose fruits are usually not edible. Among them, there are some native species produced in China, as well as many native species and artificially cultivated hybrids in Japan. Typical representatives of the former include Prunus discoidea, Prunus cerasoides, and Prunus campanulata. This Prunus campanulata is also distributed in Japan. The Japanese call it Kanhizakura. They also hybridized Prunus campanulata with cherries from China to obtain a variety called "Tsubaki Kanzakura".

Image source: pixabay

Most of these native domestic cherry blossoms grow in the southern mountainous areas and were not cultivated and domesticated seriously in ancient China. Currently, most of the main ornamental cherry blossom varieties are cultivated by the Japanese. The typical representative is "Somei Yoshino", which was born in the 19th century and is a hybrid. The parents are speculated to be Oshima cherry Prunus speciosa and "Edo Higan". The Edo Higan variety is classified as large-leaf early cherry Prunus × subhirtella. It and Oshima cherry are both native species in Japan.

References

Chinese Plant + Species Information System

The article is produced by Science Popularization China-Starry Sky Project (Creation and Cultivation). Please indicate the source when reprinting.

Author: Wu Changyu Popular Science Writer

Reviewer: Wang Kang, Director of the Science Museum of the National Botanical Garden