Prunus carduchorum explained

Prunus carduchorum (Persian: چغالک) is a rare species of wild almond native to Turkey, Iraq and Iran, near where the three countries meet. It is a subspinescent shrub 0.5-1.2 mtall. A native of the Eastern Anatolian montane steppe ecoregion,^[1] it prefers to grow at 1500 to 3000m above sea level on marl slopes, in degraded oak forests.^[2] Genetically it groups with other scrubby almonds from the region.^[3] Based on morphology it was thought to yield Prunus × pabotii when crossed with Prunus haussknechtii.^[4]

Etymology

The specific epithet, carduchorum, means "of the Carduchi, the wild tribesman of Kurdistan who so severely harried Xenophon and the Ten Thousand".

Notes and References

1. Book: Grace, Andrew . 29 September 2010 . Introductory Biogeography to Bees of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East . Sussex, United Kingdom . Bexhill Museum . 17 . 978-0-9537091-9-9 . 20 October 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025254/http://www.wildrye.info/files/Grace2010.pdf . 4 March 2016 . dead .
2. Yazbek . Mariana Mostafa . February 2010 . Systematics of Prunus Subgenus Amygdalus: Monograph and Phylogeny . PhD . Cornell University . 18 October 2018 . These [previously described subspecies] do not appear to have any taxonomic importance... .
3. Vafadar . Mahnaz . Kazempour Osaloo . Shahrokh . Attar . Farideh . 31 March 2014 . Molecular phylogeny of the genus Amygdalus (Rosaceae) based on nrDNA ITS and cpDNA trnS-trnG sequences . Turkish Journal of Botany . 38 . 3 . 439–452 . 10.3906/bot-1303-46 . 18 October 2018. free .
4. Browicz . Kazimriez . Zohary . Daniel . June 1996 . The genus Amygdalus L. (Rosaceae): Species relationships, distribution and evolution under domestication . Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution . 43 . 3 . 229–247 . 10.1007/BF00123275 . 28535529 .