Elm-leaved spirea? No, flowering almond (Prunus triloba) grows in such a unique way. Do you like it?

The Family and Genus of Flowering Almond

Flowering almond is a shrub or rarely a small tree, a plant in the genus Prunus of the rose family (Rosaceae).

Alternative Names for Flowering Almond

Flowering almond is also called xiaotaohong, yumei, and yuye luanzhi.

The Origin of Flowering Almond

It is produced in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Shandong, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other provinces and regions. It is planted in most parks throughout China. It also occurs in Central Asia of the Soviet Union.

The Morphological Characteristics of Flowering Almond

Flowering almond is a shrub or rarely a small tree, 2-3 m tall, with spreading branches and a large number of short small branchlets. The branchlets are gray, and the current-year branches are grayish brown, hairless or slightly pubescent when young. The winter buds are relatively short and small, 2-3 mm long.

The branches of flowering almond are purplish brown. The leaves are broadly elliptic to obovate, with a 3-lobed apex and serrated margins.

The flowers of flowering almond range from single to double, purplish red, 1-2 borne in the leaf axils. The flowering period is in April.

The fruit of flowering almond is red, nearly spherical, and hairy.

Main Varieties of Flowering Almond

Single-flowered flowering almond: bears pink or pinkish white flowers, single-petaled; the flowers are small, with 5 sepals and 5 petals, similar to the wild flowering almond, and the branchlets are reddish brown.

Double-flowered flowering almond: bears reddish brown flowers, the flowers are large, double, numerous and dense, with more than 10 sepals, and both the sepals and pedicels have a red tinge. The branches of the double-flowered flowering almond are mostly cracked in the bark. Because its flowers are large, it is also called "large-flowered flowering almond." It is a variety with relatively high ornamental value, but it blooms later than other varieties.

Semi-double flowering almond: pink flowers, semi-double, with more than 10 sepals and petals. The branchlets of the plant are reddish brown, and it is relatively widely cultivated in gardens and courtyards.

Curved-branch flowering almond: the flowers are small and densely borne on the branches. The flower color is rose-purple red, semi-double or double, with 10 sepals, 5 of which are triangular and 5 lanceolate. The branchlets of the plant are purplish red and smooth. It blooms earlier than other varieties, and the flowering period lasts about 10 days.

Truncate-leaved flowering almond: pink flowers. The characteristic of truncate-leaved flowering almond is that the front end of the leaf is broadly truncate, nearly triangular. It has strong cold resistance and is commonly cultivated in Northeast China.

Purple-leaved large-flowered double flowering almond: a new variety bred by our nursery. The leaf color is bright purplish red, the flowers are double, and the flowers are mostly pink. It is the newest variety of large-flowered double flowering almond.

The Flower Language of Flowering Almond

Fate, the meeting of souls