Identification: Pandora - Single white blossoms, early; may be 'Pandora'

Discussion in 'Ornamental Cherries' started by wcutler, Mar 18, 2008.

  1. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    I noticed this last year and thought it maybe wasn't Accolade or Somei Yoshino or plum, and now I'm pretty sure it isn't one of those. I don't expect it to be identified, as it's in Stanley Park, where there are several one-of-a-kind cherries. It's nestled in among some other trees just town-side of the heronry across from the Park Board office at the foot of Pendrell. I'm not good at judging height, but not to let that stop me, I'll guess 20-25 feet. The blossoms are Akebono size or a bit smaller, and while the tree isn't exactly in bloom yet, it's considerably ahead of the Akebonos and Somei-Yoshinos in the park, which have no open blossoms and are not showing all that much pink in their buds. I'll slip in another photo of the tree when there are more blossoms.
     

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  2. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Re: What cherry? Single white blossoms, early

    A couple more photos. It's much more covered in open blossoms today, 5 days after the first photos.
     

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  3. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Re: What cherry? Single white blossoms, early

    I wonder if the trees posted in this thread in the Mt Pleasant neighbourhood blog are a better version of the same kind of tree - it's also too early in that area to be Akebonos so fully in bloom already, and the trees seem too upright to be Akebono or Somei-yoshino.
     
  4. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Re: What cherry? Single white blossoms, early

    Pick specimens of known variety you think it resembles and compare with ones of these, holding them near one another and noting pertinent details like petal number and shape, shape of calyx etc. If you compared it up close with something similar - maybe 'Akebono' - it might be immediately apparent it was or wasn't that one.

    There are a great many kinds of Japanese cherries including wild species, public lands may have plantings of ones not seen in local nurseries and gardens.
     
  5. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Re: What cherry? Single white blossoms, early

    March 21 last year (a late year for cherries). April 12 this year. I'm just adding to the documentation. It's completely open again before the Somei-yoshinos nearby have even started to open.

    As an aside, I called it "early" last year, but this year, the Takasagos, a mid-season tree, are coming out now.
     

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  6. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Re: What cherry? Single white blossoms, early

    I don't think it's Somei-yoshino, but the trees nearby that haven't opened are Akebonos, not Somei-yoshino. There are enough open blossoms to tell that now. There's a half Somei-yoshino that's open, and there's Single White #1 that's open.
     
  7. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Re: What cherry? Single white blossoms, early

    It's hard to compare these things when nothing else similar is open, except for one Somei-yoshino in the West End whose blossoms are way too high up for me to get near them. I can go back to saying this is early, as it's in bloom again before the nearby Somei-yoshinos or Akebonos, this year on February 25. I know this looks like all buds and one open blossom, but the tree really does look mostly open. I just picked a section that would give a blossom and buds.

    Park trees generally don't bloom particularly early for their cultivar, so if the hill cherries are not in bloom elsewhere (and not in Seattle yet), then it's unlikely this would be one of those, is that right?
     

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  8. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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  9. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Re: What cherry? Single white blossoms, early

    I was going to say that I'm going to post this every year until someone identifies it, but I wonder if it's the same as Anne's new find, which Mariko has identified as 'Fuyu-zakura'.
    See Fuyu-zakura - single white, early blooming
    I only got one photo in focus yesterday, but there are several here from previous years. There are several open blossoms, but it's really just starting to open.
     

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  10. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Re: What cherry? Single white blossoms, early

    This tree is completely in bloom now, at the same time as 'Pandora', but I see that I think I ruled out that cultivar last year by the leaves. And the petals seem a little too round. The nearby 'Somei-yoshino' does not have any open blossoms.

    The popular cluster number is two; the toonie coin diameter is just under 3cm; pedicels are about that length or slightly shorter. Sepals are what I would describe as somewhat shapely, and seem to be finely serrated. There seems to be a just one bit of Witch's Broom at the top of the tree.

    I changed my mind about its being the same as the one we're wondering about being 'Fuyu-zakura', but I can't say exactly why. It's definitely never flowered before February in the past few years. It looks a lot like the 'Mochizuki-zakura' photo in our new Flowering Cherries of Japan - New Edition (Ohba, Kawasaki and Tanaka, 2007, Yama-Kei Publishers, Tokyo) (thank you, Mariko), but that's probably unlikely and I can't read the Japanese to tell when that's supposed to bloom.
     

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  11. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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  12. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Re: What cherry? Single white blossoms, early

    Never mind that. That blooms mid-April in Japan and according to the book cited below, have "hair on leafstalks, pedicels, calyxes, sepals and lower parts of pistils". Mariko sent me some links. Here's the tree photo, just to complete that picture.
     
  13. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Re: What cherry? Single white blossoms, early

    The leaves don't look so different from the ones posted in the Pandora thread. I can't even find the ones I said they don't look like.

    A lot of the photos at your link show petals a lot more rounded than what I identify as 'Pandora' - this tree's petals are pretty similar to what's shown. It's really the tree shape that's distinctive, but in this woodsy setting, the shape isn't much to go on.
     

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