Prunus arborea

Prunus arborea, most commonly known as xoan đào, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae, distributed throughout East, South, and Southeast Asia, as well as parts of Melanesia, spanning over many countries.

Description

Prunus arborea is a mid-canopy deciduous tree that typically grows between 7–40 m (23–131 ft) in height, with a straight, cylindrical bole that can reach up to 74 cm (29 in) in diameter, sometimes with buttresses. The dark gray bark is relatively smooth, while the twigs are black-brown to dark purple-brown, featuring conspicuous small lenticels and initially pubescent surfaces that quickly become glabrous. The wood is lightweight with a density of 0.56 g/cm3 (0.020 oz/cm3) and exhibits a golden-brown coloration with a variable grain, medium to coarse texture, and a distinctive moiré pattern accented by whitish speckles. The leaves exhibit notable variability both in shape and venation, ranging from papery to nearly leathery, ovate-lanceolate to elliptic, with dimensions between 7–15 cm (2.8–5.9 in) long and 2–7 cm (0.79–2.76 in) wide. The apex is acuminate to caudate-acuminate, the base is acute to cuneate, and the entire margins are pubescent when young, later becoming glabrous. The undersides sometimes bear nectary glands near the petiole insertion, which itself measures 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in) long and is glabrous or sparsely pubescent, while stipules are caducous and around 5 mm (0.20 in) long. Flowers appear in clustered or solitary racemes in leaf axils, measuring 1.5–3.5 cm (0.59–1.38 in) long, with brown soft hairs that may persist or fall off with age. The pedicels are 1–3 mm (0.039–0.118 in) long and pubescent at flowering. The small bracts drop early, and flowers are approximately 1–8 mm (0.039–0.315 in) in diameter, white, yellow, or pinkish in hue.