Prunus cyclamina, called the cyclamin cherry (or cyclamen cherry), the Chinese flowering cherry, and in, the Xiangyang mountain cherry, is a species of flowering cherry native to China, preferring to grow at 1000–1300m above sea level. It has prolific, attractive pale pink flowers that bloom early and outlast many later-blooming cherries and, accordingly, excellent potential as an ornamental.[1] In the Arnold Arboretum in Massachusetts two individuals have prospered for decades, never showing any signs of the typical diseases—including the nematodes, viruses and black knot—that afflict their Prunus neighbors.[2] [3]
It is robust tree, usually 5 to 10m tall. Its bark is a dark purplishbrown with prominent lenticles. Young spring leaves are an attractive bronze color. The serrated leaves have a 0.8 to 1.2cm petiole, and are obovate-oblong or broadly elliptic, from 4.5 to 12cm long and 2.7 to 5.5cm wide. The leaves are a darker green on the top surface, with the underside glabrous, sometimes initially pilose on the veins. Prunus cyclamina var. cyclamina, the more widely distributed variety, has subumbellate inflorescences with 3 to 4 flowers, and Prunus cyclamina var. biflora has umbellate inflorescences with two flowers. Each flower is 3 to 6cm wide and has about 32 stamens. The form of their deep pink calyxes resembles the corollas of cyclamen flowers, inspiring the specific epithet. The fruit, a drupe, is subglobose, purplishred, and 7.5 to 8.3mm in diameter with scant but tasty flesh. They are relished by birds.
Cyclamin cherry is found in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, and Sichuan provinces in China.