kids encyclopedia robot

Prunus subg. Prunus facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Prunus subg. Prunus
Plums and Nectarines (4039921754).jpg
Plums and nectarines
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Prunus
Subgenus: Prunus subg. Prunus
Section

See text.

Prunus subg. Prunus is a subgenus of Prunus. This subgenus includes plums, apricots and bush cherries. Most species inside this subgenus bear fruit that is sugary, storing large amounts of energy, which is why most Prunus species' fruits are soft and rubbery. Some species conventionally included in Prunus subg. Amygdalus are clustered with plum/apricot species according to molecular phylogenetic studies. Shi et al. (2013) has incorporated subg. Amygdalus into subg. Prunus, thereby including almonds and peaches in this subgenus.

Sections according to Shi et al. (2013)

Shi et al. (2013) divide subg. Prunus into seven sections: sect. Amygdalus, sect. Armeniaca, sect. Emplectocladus, sect. Microcerasus, sect. Persicae, sect. Prunocerasus and sect. Prunus. They form three clades. The basal clade is sect. Emplectocladus which is sometimes treated as a subgenus. The other two clades are the Amygdalus-Persicae clade (sometimes treated as subg. Amygdalus) and the Armeniaca-Microcerasus-Prunocerasus-Prunus clade (subg. Prunus in a narrow sense).

Sect. Emplectocladus

Prunus sect. Emplectocladus (Torr.) A.Gray is the sister group to all the other species in this subgenus, and sometimes treated as a distinct subgenus, Prunus subg. Emplectocladus (Torr.) S.C.Mason. It includes six New World species.

Sect. Amygdalus & Sect. Persica

Prunus sect. Amygdalus (L.) Benth. & Hook.f. and Prunus sect. Persica (Mill.) Nakai sometimes constitute Prunus subg. Amygdalus (L.) Focke. They form a monophyletic clade together, but the boundary between them seems not very distinct. A few species, such as P. spinosissima (thorny almond) and P. kansuensis (Gansu peach), are clustered in either sect. Amygdalus or sect. Persica in different studies. The word "ămygdălus" is Latin for the almond nut.

Sect. Amygdalus includes most Old World almond species except P. mongolica, P. tangutica, P. triloba, P. pedunculata, P. tenella, P. petunnikowii and probably other related species.

Selected species:

Sect. Persica includes peach species as well as two species previously considered almonds (P. mongolica and P. tangutica).

Sect. Armeniaca

Species in this Prunus sect. Armeniaca (Scop.) Koch are apricots, native to Eurasia.

Selected species:

Sect. Microcerasus

Species in Prunus sect. Microcerasus (Spach) C.K.Schneid. are known as bush cherries or dwarf cherries.

Selected species:

Sect. Prunocerasus

Prunus sect. Prunocerasus Koehne includes New World plums and peachbush (P. texana).

Selected species:

Sect. Prunus

Prunus sect. Prunus includes Old World plums.

Selected species:

Additional sections

Species of the following sections were not presented in the results of Shi et al. (2013). Therefore, their relationship with the sections proposed by Shi et al. (2013) is unclear.

Sect. Chamaeamygdalus

Prunus sect. Chamaeamygdalus Spach used to be included in the Amygdalus-Persica clade. However, molecular phylogenetic research indicates that it should be excluded from the Amygdalus-Persica clade. The phylogenetic positions of the species in this section are still uncertain.

Sect. Louiseania

Prunus sect. Louiseania (Carrière) Yazbek includes two or three Asian species. Although they are called flowering almond, they are more closely related to apricots and bush cherries.

Sect. Penarmeniaca

Prunus sect. Penarmeniaca S.C.Mason is the sister group to New World plums, P. texana and probably the Old World species P. tenella. It includes two New World species.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Prunus subg. Prunus para niños

kids search engine
Prunus subg. Prunus Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.