Many members of the genus are widely cultivated for their sweet, fleshyfruit and for decorative purposes of theirflowers.Prunus fruit aredrupes, or stone fruits. The fleshymesocarp surrounding theendocarp is edible while the endocarp itself forms a hard, inedible shell called thepyrena ("stone" or "pit").[7] This shell encloses the seed (or "kernel"), which is edible in some species (such as sweet almonds), but poisonous in many others (such asapricot kernels). Besides being eaten off the hand, mostPrunus fruit are also commonly used in processing, such as jam production, canning, drying, and the seeds for roasting.[8]
Members of the genus are eitherdeciduous orevergreen. A few species have spiny stems. The leaves are simple, alternate, usuallylanceolate, unlobed, and often withnectaries on the leaf stalk along withstipules. The flowers are usually white to pink, sometimes red, with five petals and fivesepals. Numerousstamens are present. Flowers are borne singly, or inumbels of two to six or sometimes more onracemes. The fruit is a fleshy drupe (a "prune") with a single relatively large, hard-coated seed (a "stone").[9]
Within the rose family Rosaceae, it was traditionally placed as a subfamily, theAmygdaloideae (incorrectly "Prunoideae"), but was sometimes placed in its own family, the Prunaceae (or Amygdalaceae). More recently,Prunus is thought to have evolved from within a much larger clade now called subfamily Amygdaloideae (incorrectly "Spiraeoideae").[3]
This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2021)
The oldest fossils confirmed to belong toPrunus date to theEocene, and are found across the Northern Hemisphere. Older potential Late Cretaceous records are unconfirmed.[10]
The earliest known fossilPrunus specimens are wood, drupe, seed, and a leaf from the middle Eocene of thePrinceton Chert of British Columbia, Canada.[11] Using the known age as calibration data, a partialphylogeny of some of the Rosaceae from a number ofnucleotide sequences was reconstructed.[12]Prunus and its sister cladeMaloideae (apple subfamily) has been suggested to have diverged44.3 million years ago which is within theLutetian, or older middleEocene.[a] Stockey and Wehr report: "The Eocene was a time of rapid evolution and diversification inAngiosperm families such as the Rosaceae ...."[11] The oldest fossil species isPrunus cathybrownae from theKlondike Mountain Formation.[13]
In 1737,Carl Linnaeus used four genera to include the species of modernPrunus—Amygdalus, Cerasus, Prunus, andPadus—but simplified it toAmygdalus andPrunus in 1758.[15] Since then, the various genera of Linnaeus and others have become subgenera and sections, as all the species clearly are more closely related.Liberty Hyde Bailey said: "The numerous forms grade into each other so imperceptibly and inextricably that the genus cannot be readily broken up into species."[16]
Historical treatments break the genus into several different genera, but this segregation is not currently widely recognised other than at the subgeneric rank. TheITIS recognises just the single genusPrunus, with an open list of species,[b] all of which are given atList of Prunus species.[c]
One treatment of the subgenera derives from the work ofAlfred Rehder in 1940. Rehder hypothesized five subgenera:Amygdalus, Prunus, Cerasus, Padus, andLaurocerasus.[17] To them C. Ingram addedLithocerasus.[18] The six subgenera are described as follows:
SubgenusAmygdalus, almonds and peaches: axillary buds in threes (vegetative bud central, two flower buds to sides); flowers in early spring, sessile or nearly so, not on leafed shoots; fruit with a groove along one side; stone deeply grooved; type species:Prunus amygdalus (almond)
SubgenusPrunus, plums and apricots: axillary buds solitary; flowers in early spring stalked, not on leafed shoots; fruit with a groove along one side, stone rough; type species:Prunus domestica (plum)
SubgenusCerasus, true cherries: axillary buds single; flowers in early spring in corymbs, long-stalked, not on leafed shoots; fruit not grooved, stone smooth; type species:Prunus cerasus (sour cherry)
SubgenusLithocerasus, bush cherries: axillary buds in threes; flowers in early spring in corymbs, long-stalked, not on leafed shoots; fruit not grooved, stone smooth; type species:Prunus pumila (sand cherry)
SubgenusPadus, bird cherries: axillary buds single; flowers in late spring in racemes on leafy shoots, short-stalked; fruit not grooved, stone smooth; type species:Prunus padus (European bird cherry), now known to be polyphyletic[19]
SubgenusLaurocerasus, cherry laurels: evergreen (all the other subgenera are deciduous); axillary buds single; flowers in early spring in racemes, not on leafed shoots, short-stalked; fruit not grooved, stone smooth; type species:Prunus laurocerasus (European cherry-laurel)
An extensive phylogenetic study based on different chloroplast and nuclear sequences dividesPrunus into three subgenera:[20]
Subg.Padus: In addition to species ofPadus (bird cherries), this subgenus also includes species ofMaddenia (false bird cherries),Laurocerasus (cherry laurels) andPygeum.
TheOnline Etymology Dictionary presents the customary derivations of plum[21] and prune[22] from Latinprūnum,[23] the plum fruit. The tree isprūnus;[24] andPliny usesprūnus silvestris to mean theblackthorn. The word is not native Latin, but is a loan from Greek προῦνον (prounon), which is a variant of προῦμνον (proumnon),[25] origin unknown. The tree is προύμνη (proumnē).[26] Most dictionaries follow Hoffman,Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Griechischen, in making some form of the word a loan from a pre-Greek language ofAsia Minor, related toPhrygian.
VariousPrunus species are winter hosts of the Damson-hop aphid,Phorodon humuli, which is destructive to hopsHumulus lupulus just at the time of their maturity,[28] so plum trees should not be grown in the vicinity of hop fields.
Corking is the drying or withering of fruit tissue.[29] In stone fruit, it is often caused by a lack ofboron and/orcalcium.[30]
Gummosis is a nonspecific condition of stone fruits (peach, nectarine, plum, and cherry) in which gum is exuded and deposited on the bark of trees. Gum is produced in response to any type of wound – insect, mechanical injury, or disease.[31]
Apiosporina morbosa is a major fungal disease in the Northern Americas, with many urban centres running black knot fungus management programs.[32] This disease is best managed by physical removal of knot-bearing branches to prevent spore spread and immediate disposal of infected tissue.[32] Chemical treatment is not largely effective, as trees can easily be re-infected by neighbouring knots.
Laetiporus gilbertsoni (commonly sulfur shelf and chicken of the woods), is a serious cubic brown rot parasite which attacks certain species of decorative red-leaf plum trees in the genusPrunus on the Pacific coast of North America.[33][34]
The development sequence of anectarine (P. persica) over a 7.5-month period, from bud formation in early winter to fruit ripening in midsummer
The genusPrunus includes thealmond, the nectarine andpeach, several species ofapricots,cherries, andplums, all of which havecultivars developed for commercialfruit and nut production. The almond is not a truenut; the edible part is the seed. Other species are occasionally cultivated or used for their seed and fruit.
A number of species,hybrids, and cultivars are grown asornamental plants, usually for their profusion of flowers, sometimes for ornamental foliage and shape, and occasionally for theirbark.
Because of their considerable value as both food and ornamental plants, manyPrunus species have beenintroduced to parts of the world to which they are not native, some becoming naturalised.
Prunus species are food plants for the larvae of manyLepidoptera species (butterflies and moths).
Prunus species are included in theTasmanian Fire Service's list of low flammability plants, indicating that it is suitable for growing within a building protection zone.[37]
Many species arecyanogenic; that is, they contain compounds called cyanogenicglucosides, notablyamygdalin, which, onhydrolysis, yieldhydrogen cyanide.[38] Although the fruits of some may be edible by humans and livestock (in addition to the ubiquitous fructivory of birds), seeds, leaves and other parts may be toxic, some highly so.[39] The plants contain no more than trace amounts of hydrogen cyanide, but on decomposition after crushing and exposure to air or on digestion, poisonous amounts may be generated. The trace amounts may give a characteristic taste ("bitter almond") with increasing bitterness in larger quantities, less tolerable to people than to birds, which habitually feed on specific fruits.
People are often encouraged to consume many fruits because they are rich in a variety of nutrients and phytochemicals that are supposedly beneficial to human health. The fruits ofPrunus often contain manyphytochemicals andantioxidants.[8][40][41] These compounds have properties that have been linked to preventing different diseases and disorders.[40][42][43] Research suggests that the consumption of these fruits reduces the risk of developing diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and other age-related declines.[42][43] Many factors can affect the levels of bioactive compounds in the different fruits of the genusPrunus, including the environment, season, processing methods, orchard operations, and postharvest management.[8]
Cherries contain many differentphenolic compounds andanthocyanins, which are indicators of being rich in antioxidants.[44][42] Recent research has linked the phenolic compounds of the sweet cherry (Prunus avium) with antitumor properties.[45]
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) includesuperoxide radicals,hydrogen peroxide,hydroxyl radicals, andsinglet oxygen; they are the byproducts of metabolism. High levels of ROS lead to oxidative stress, which causes damage to lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. The oxidative damage results in cell death, which ultimately leads to numerous diseases and disorders. Antioxidants act as a defense mechanism against the oxidative stress.[42][43] They are used to remove thefree radicals in a living system that are generated as ROS.[46][42] Some of those antioxidants includeglutathione S-transferase,glutathione peroxidase,superoxide dismutase, andcatalase.[46] The antioxidants present in cherry extracts act as inhibitors of the free radicals.[40] However, the DNA and proteins can be damaged when an imbalance occurs in the level of free radicals and the antioxidants. When not enough antioxidants are available to remove the free radicals, many diseases can occur, such as cancers, cardiovascular diseases, Parkinson's disease, etc.[43] Recent studies have shown that using natural antioxidants as a supplement in chemotherapy can decrease the amount of oxidative damage. Some of these natural antioxidants include vitamin C,tocopherol, andepigallocatechin gallate; they can be found in certain cherry extracts.[46]
Similar to cherries, strawberries, and raspberries, almonds are also rich inphenolics. Almonds have a high oxygen radical absorbing capacity (ORAC), which is another indicator of being rich in antioxidants.[8][47] As stated before, high levels of free radicals are harmful, thus having the capacity to absorb those radicals is greatly beneficial. The bioactive compounds, polyphenols and anthocyanins, found in berries and cherries are also present in almonds.[48][47] Almonds also contain nonflavonoid andflavonoid compounds, which contribute to their antioxidant properties.[8][49][47] Flavonoids are a group of structurally related compounds that are arranged in a specific manner and can be found in all vascular plants on land. They also contribute to the antioxidant properties of almonds.[49] Some of the nonflavonoid compounds present areprotocatechuic,vanillic, andp-hydroxybenzoic acids. Flavonoid compounds that can be found in the skin of the almond areflavanols,dihydroflavonols, andflavanones.[49][47]
Of all of the different species of stone fruits, plums are the richest in antioxidants and phenolic compounds. The total antioxidant capacity (TAC) varies within each fruit, but in plums, TAC is much higher in the skin than in the flesh of the fruit.[8][50][41]
Apricots are high incarotenoids, which play a key role in light absorption during development. Carotenoids are the pigments that give the pulp and peel of apricots and otherPrunus fruits their yellow and orange colors. Moreover, it is an essential precursor for vitamin A, which is especially important for vision and the immune system in humans.[8][51] Moreover, these fruits are quite rich in phenolic substances, includingcatechin,epicatechin,p-coumaric acid,caffeic acid, andferulic acid.[51][52]
Similar to the plum, peaches and nectarines also have higher TAC in the skin than in the flesh.[8][50] They also contain moderate levels of carotenoids and ascorbic acid.[53][50][41] Peaches and nectarines are orange and yellow in color, which can be attributed to the carotenoids present.[8]
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