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Prunus

Prunus

7.6
A group of small trees and bushes that includes plums, cherries, peaches, apricots and almonds
  • noun
  • /ˈpruːnəs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : Prunus
  • Many gardeners choose Prunus species like plums or cherries for their beautiful blooms in spring.
  • Prunus cherry
  • Prunus plum

Examples

  • The cherry tree belongs to the genus Prunus and produces delicious fruit each summer.

  • Kansans preferred sand-hill plum (Prunus angustifolia) preserves.

    Academic text (2003)
  • She planted several varieties of Prunus in her garden, including apricots and peaches.

Synonyms

genus Prunus
vsPrunus
  • Specialized
7.7

A group of trees and bushes that includes cherries, plums, peaches, apricots and almonds

is the identical concept but named in its shorter scientific form

Compounds

genus Prunus
  • Specialized
7.7

A group of trees and bushes that includes cherries, plums, peaches, apricots and almonds

Prunus alleghaniensis
  • Specialized
9.9

A wild plum tree in the northeastern United States with dark purple, edible fruit and yellow flesh

Prunus americana
  • Specialized
9.3

A wild plum tree from eastern and central North America that has red-orange fruit with yellow inside

Prunus amygdalus
  • Specialized
8.9

A small tree that loses its leaves and has pink flowers and edible almonds

Prunus angustifolia
  • Specialized
9.9

A small North American shrubby tree with edible yellow to red fruit

Prunus armeniaca
  • Specialized
8.1

A tree that loses its leaves each year and produces soft orange fruit called apricots

Prunus avium
  • Specialized
9.9

A large tree from Europe and Asia that makes sweet cherries people eat

Prunus besseyi
  • Specialized
9.9

A small garden shrub with sweet, edible fruits like small plums

Prunus cuneata
  • Specialized
9.9

A small wild cherry tree that grows on sandy soil and has tiny dark bitter fruits

Prunus dasycarpa
  • Specialized
9.9

A small hybrid apricot tree from Asia with purple twigs, white flowers, and small purple fruit

Prunus domestica
  • Specialized
6.8

A tree that makes sweet plums people eat

9.9

A type of plum tree grown for fruit you can eat, like greengages and damsons

Prunus dulcis
  • Specialized
8.4

A small tree with pink spring flowers that makes almonds you can eat

Prunus capuli
  • Specialized
9.9

A Mexican black cherry tree from Central and South America with sweet edible fruit

Prunus caroliniana
  • Specialized
9.9

A small evergreen tree from the southern United States with dark shiny leaves and small white flowers

Prunus cerasifera
  • Specialized
8.8

A small tree that makes red or yellow fruit called cherry plum

Prunus cerasus
  • Specialized
8.2

A small tree from Europe and Asia that makes red or dark sour cherries used for pies

9.9

A sour cherry tree grown for dark cherries and dark juice

9.9

A small sour cherry tree that makes pale red fruit with clear juice

Prunus dulcis amara
  • Specialized
9.9

An almond tree with white flowers that makes bitter poisonous nuts used to make oil for flavor and medicine

Prunus glandulosa
  • Specialized
9.9

A small Chinese shrub grown for its red, pink, or white flowers and small red fruit

Prunus mexicana
  • Specialized
9.9

A small tree from the southwestern United States with large leaves and purplish-red fruit

Prunus nigra
  • Specialized
9.6

A small tree from northeastern North America that loses its leaves and makes orange-red oval fruit

Prunus padus
  • Specialized
9.9

A small European tree with clusters of sweet-smelling white flowers and small bitter black cherries

Prunus pensylvanica
  • Specialized
9.9

A small bushy wild cherry tree with bright red sour fruit

Prunus persica
  • Specialized
7.9

A tree grown for its sweet fruit, the peach

Prunus ilicifolia
  • Specialized
9.9

An evergreen bush or small tree with spiny thick leaves and edible fruit like a small plum

Prunus incisa
  • Specialized
9.4

A small Japanese cherry tree with pale pink flowers often grown in gardens

Prunus insititia
  • Specialized
9.9

A small plum tree that produces tart fruit for jam

Prunus japonica
  • Specialized
9.4

A small woody bush from East Asia that has white or pale pink flowers and small red fruit

Prunus laurocerasus
  • Specialized
9.9

A dense evergreen shrub with shiny leaves and white flowers used for hedges

Prunus lyonii
  • Specialized
9.9

An evergreen shrub or small tree from Catalina Island with clusters of white flowers and dark purple fruit

Prunus maritima
  • Specialized
9.9

A small shrub by the sea with white flowers and edible purple fruit called beach plum

Prunus pumila
  • Specialized
9.9

A low North American bush in the cherry family that grows on sandy ground and makes small dark sour fruit

9.9

A small spreading American cherry that grows on sandy ground and has tiny sour dark fruit

Prunus susquehanae
  • Specialized
9.9

A small wild cherry that grows on sandy soil with tiny bitter dark fruit

Prunus tenella
  • Specialized
9.9

A small shrub with rosy red flowers often grown in gardens

Prunus virginiana
  • Specialized
8.8

A small wild tree with bitter black cherries that birds eat

9.9

A small wild tree with sour dark red berries that birds and people eat

Prunus salicina
  • Specialized
9.9

A small tree from China and Japan that produces large yellow or red plums often called the Japanese plum

Prunus serrulata
  • Specialized
8.5

A decorative tree from East Asia that has clusters of pink or white spring flowers

Prunus sieboldii
  • Specialized
9.9

A tree from East Asia with bright pink flowers and inedible fruit

Prunus spinosa
  • Specialized
9.2

A thorny bush from Europe and Asia with small dark blue fruits

Prunus subcordata
  • Specialized
9.9

A shrub or small tree from the US west coast with small red fruit not often eaten

Prunus subhirtella
  • Specialized
9.9

A small tree or large bush from Japan grown for its pink flowers

Surface Forms

Prunus singular
Prunuses plural

Etymology

The word Prunus comes from the Latin prunus, meaning 'plum', and is the same root as the English word prune. So it names the group of trees and shrubs that give us plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, and almonds.