Prunus cerasifera Ehrh. - Rosaceae - cherry plum, myrobalan plum, Kirschpflaume, Wildpflaume, Wilde Mirabelle

large shrub or small tree; up to 8(-12)m high, native to Southeast Europe and Western Asia, also cultivated as ornamental; branches occasionally spiny; leaves hairless and glossy above, alternate, elliptical to ovate or obovate,with crenate saw-toothed margins, hairy on the veins beneath.
„The flowers are hermaphrodite and appear in March-May slightly before the leaves, usually solitary, 2-2.5 cm wide, on about 1.5 cm long pedicels. The sepals are 2.5-5 mm long with finely glandular saw-toothed margins. The petals are white, occasionally slightly reddish. The fruits are 2-3 cm wide, plum-like drupes, globose, ripening to red or yellow with a smooth endocarp.“
[Popescu, I., and G. Caudullo. „Prunus cerasifera.“] https://forest.jrc.ec.europa.eu/media/atlas/Prunus_cerasifera.pdf

Some cultivars have dark red leaves and red fruits, e.g. Prunus cerasifera 'Pissardii' and Prunus cerasifera 'Nigra' („Blutpflaume“).

„In the component composition of volatile solutions determining fragrance of the flowers in apricot and cherry-plum varieties and Prunus brigantiaca Vill. x Armeniaca vulgaris Lam. hybrids there are 36 highest hydrocarbons and benzaldehyde that prevail.“ [Горіна, В. М., О. О. Ріхтер, and Б. О. Виноградов. „Aroma peculiarities of apricot (Armeniaca vulgaris Lam.) and cherry-plum (Prunus cerasifera Ehrh.) flowers.“ (2013)]

Volatile compounds were collected from flowers of several Prunus species including P.mume, P.sibirica, P.persica and P.cerasifera using the static headspace adsorption method. The relative content of benzaldehyde was high (> 60%) in P.cerasifera and very high in P.sibirica (> 90%). Endogenous extracts of P.cerasifera flowers with ethyl acetate as the extraction solvent contained mainly benzaldehyde, but also some benzyl acetate and benzyl alcohol.
[A comparative analysis of characteristic floral scent compounds in Prunus mume and related species., Hao, R., Du, D., Wang, T., Yang, W., Wang, J., Zhang, Q., Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry, 78(10), 2014, 1640-1647] http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09168451.2014.936346

„The chemical composition of volatiles emitted in vivo from different plant parts of P. cerasifera and P. cerasifera ‘Pissardii’ were collected during the entire biological cycle of the plant growth and analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) after solid phase micro-extraction (SPME).“
Interesting floral volatiles of P.cerasifera flowers were aldehydes like nonanal (10.8%), decanal (7.4%), benzaldehyde (3.2%), (E)-2-hexenal (3.1%), hexanal (1.4%), dodecanal (1.4%), lilac aldehydes (A/B; 2.2/2.0%), furthermore esters like 2-ethylhexyl salicylate (11.1%) and (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate (3.0%), and other compounds like nonadecane (15.7%), 2-aminoacetophenone (4.2%), nerol (4.2%), 4-keto isophorone (3.3%), geranylacetone (2.8%), and β-ionone (trace). Main floral volatiles of P.cerasifera ‘Pissardii’ flowers were in particular lilac aldehydes and lilac alcohols. Main fruit aroma volatiles were alcohols like hexanol and 3-hexenol and especially esters like e.g. (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, hexyl acetate, (E)-2-hexenyl acetate, (Z)-3-hexenyl butyrate, butyl hexanoate, (E)-2-hexenyl butyrate, (Z)-3-hexenyl hexanoate, hexyl hexanoate, and (E)-2-hexenyl hexanoate; minor components were benzaldehyde, nonanal and decanal.
[Reidel, Rose Vanessa Bandeira, Pier Luigi Cioni, and Luisa Pistelli. „Volatile emission of different plant parts and fruit development from Italian cherry plums (Prunus cerasifera and P. cerasifera ‘Pissardii’).“ Biochemical systematics and ecology 75 (2017): 10-17]

Prunus cerasifera (ssp. cerasifera), Erholungsgebiet Wienerberg Ostteil © Rolf Marschner (2008) www.botanische-spaziergaenge.at

cherry plum fruits, author Alyana Alya (2014) CC BY-SA 4.0
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