'Takasago', was unknown pink semi-double cherry, late-blooming
On April 23, I found this unknown pink semi-double cherry beside RCMP heritage house 'Fairmont Training Academy' at 4949 Heather Street, Vancouver. Many flowers withered or turned to purple in the centre. I visited this tree again on April 26, 28, 29.
tree: vase-shaped
young foliage: light bronze-green
corymbose: with mostly 3 flowers
flower color: pink bud and outer petals, light to white inner petals, turn to purple in the centre quickly in one week
flower: 3.5~4 cm in diameter. mostly flat with 1~2 staminodes
petals: 11~14 of variable shape
Pistil: one, perfect, as long as or a little longer than the stamen
peduncle: short 0~2 cm; pedicel: 3~6.6 cm; with pubescence
peduncle + pedicel: variety of length, 0 + 6~6.5 cm; 0 + 3.0 cm; 1 + 5.0 cm; 2 + 4.0 cm; 4 + 3.0 cm
calyx-tube: 0.8 cm with a faint purple tinge
sepal: 0.7 cm, triangular, unserrated, 5
Last edited by Joseph Lin; May 1st, 2012 at 05:45 PM.
UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research
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Re: unknown pink semi-double cherry
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph Lin
On April 23, I found this unknown pink semi-double cherry beside RCMP heritage house 'Fairmont Training Academy' at 4949 Heather Street, Vancouver.
Many flowers withered or turned to purple in the centre.
peduncle: 2 cm; pedicel: 2.2 cm;
calyx-tube: 0.8 cm; sepal: 0.7 cm, with hair;
petals: 7+2 half, 8 or 9 + half
mostly 3 flowered corymbs
Joseph, can you state the size (diameter) of the open flowers? It would be interesting to know how long after opening these flowers become red-flushed. Thanks.
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I visited this tree second time today. Most of the flowers withered.
Sorry, I didn't notice your second question, and may not have a chance to monitor how long it takes one specific flower to turn to red-flushed after opening.
Last edited by wcutler; April 29th, 2012 at 08:18 PM.
The branches are upright, as you can see in the previuos posting.
One pistil is perfect as high as the stamen.
My original record: peduncle: 2 cm; pedicel: 2.2 cm
Today, I found variety of length for peduncle + pedicel as follow:
0 + 6~6.5 cm; 0 + 3.0 cm; 1 + 5.0 cm; 2 + 4.0 cm; 4 + 3.0 cm
I found only two flowers starting to open. I will try to follow them up how long it takes one specific flower turning to red-flushed after opening. [edited by wcutler 2012may1]: Joseph has edited his original posting to include this information and other details.
Last edited by wcutler; May 5th, 2012 at 06:31 PM.
This is 'Takasago', judging from the hairy leaves.
That's what I wondered, but the pedicels don't seem to be hairy on these. I remember saying of the Rose Garden 'Takasago' that they had hairy everything, so I went and checked today, and the flower pedicels of the Rose Garden trees are hairy too. The ID of those trees have been in question, so I checked one of the Comox St trees too, and it also had hairy pedicels. I took photos, which might have come out - don't have time to look at them right now.
For comparison, here are two photos of a Rose Garden 'Takasago' and one from a Comox St. 'Takasago', showing hairs on the pedicels, peduncles and calyxes. Joseph's photo #10 shows no hairs, but his photo #17 does show pedicel hairs.
This tree doesn't look sick enough to be a 'Takasago'. No wonder Joseph thought it was special. I also wondered about the length of the pedicels, but I see on the others that the pedicels have lengthened.
Interesting. Perhaps there are fewer hairs on the pedicels because of slow flower development (this would be very late for 'Takasago', no?). Note the pedicels are exceptionally long, a feature more typical of late flowering cherries. What about hairs at the base of the pistil (another diagnostic feature of 'Takasago')? Do we know of any other cultivars with similarly hairy leaves and tightly clustered, double pink flowers? I have to admit that the apparent health of the tree suggests something else; however, this plant does not appear to be grafted. Compare with the typical 'Takasago' on Vancouver's streets. My views on the health consequences of grafting cherry trees are known to some readers of this forum.
.... What about hairs at the base of the pistil (another diagnostic feature of 'Takasago')?...
OK, I stopped by on my way out of town today - it's supposed to be "a few hairs", if I remember correctly what Kuitert says (Japanese Flowering Cherries). Four is a few, right?
For comparison, here are two hairs on a 'Takasago' pistil from one of the trees on Comox St. It had two others in the middle of the pistil as well.
The RCMP tree isn't really in all that good condition. There is some brown rot and other stuff, just not as much as on 'Takasago' generally. And this limb in the middle on the third photo has broken off, presumably some time ago, as the limb is completely dead.
I don't understand how you can tell the difference between low-grafted and not-grafted, but anyway, all the leaves to the bottom of the trunk are similar fuzzy leaves to what's growing up top.
If this is 'Takasago', I'm going to have to modify the name of the Takasago thread from "mid-season" to "blooms whenever it wants to".
Re: 'Takasago' - pink semi-double cherry, not really late-blooming
This tree that we thought bloomed too late to be 'Takasago' is blooming now, when all the other 'Takasago' in the city are in bloom. I see that last year I said "the pedicels don't seem to be hairy on these". The pedicels are plenty hairy, and the leaves are plenty fuzzy.
What's fooling us is that this is a beautiful tree. Sure there are parts that have died, but it's shaped like a Japanese tree, not like half a tree stuck onto a fat pole. It doesn't even appear to be grafted. Usually on trees low-grafted onto P. avium, you can see the avium roots surrounding the tree, but that's not the case here.
'Takasago'. Case closed.
Here are two more photos, just because I like them.
