page_title: Cherry blossom
section_title: Varieties and blooming
hierarchical_section_title: Cherry blossom / Varieties and blooming
caption_attribution_description: English: Cherry tree (Prunus Serrulata) in Ponta Grossa, southern Brazil
context_page_description: A cherry blossom is a flower of many trees of genus Prunus. The most well-known species is the Japanese cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is commonly called sakura.
  They are widely distributed, especially in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere including Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Mainland China, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Thailand, Europe, United States, Canada and West Siberia. Along with the chrysanthemum, the cherry blossom is considered the national flower of Japan.
  All varieties of cherry blossom trees produce small, unpalatable fruit or edible cherries. Edible cherries generally come from cultivars of the related species Prunus avium and Prunus cerasus.
context_section_description: Japan has a wide variety of cherry blossoms (sakura); well over 200 cultivars can be found there. The following species, hybrids, and varieties are used for sakura:
  Prunus apetala var. pilosa
  Prunus campanulata
  Prunus × furuseana
  Prunus × incam
  Prunus incisa var. incisa
  Prunus incisa var. kinkiensis
  Prunus × introrsa
  Prunus × kanzakura
  Prunus × miyoshii
  Prunus padus
  Prunus × parvifolia
  Prunus pendula
  Prunus pseudocerasus
  Prunus × sacra
  Prunus sargentii
  Prunus serrulata
  Prunus × sieboldii
  Prunus × subhirtella
  Prunus × syodoi
  Prunus × tajimensis
  Prunus × takenakae
  Prunus verecunda
  Prunus × yedoensis
  The most popular variety of cherry blossom in Japan is the Somei Yoshino. Its flowers are nearly pure white, tinged with the palest pink, especially near the stem. They bloom and usually fall within a week, before the leaves come out. Therefore, the trees look nearly white from top to bottom. The variety takes its name from the village of Somei (now part of Toshima in Tokyo). It was developed in the mid- to late-19th century at the end of the Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period. The Somei Yoshino is so widely associated with cherry blossoms that jidaigeki and other works of fiction often depict the variety in the Edo period or earlier; such depictions are anachronisms.
  Winter sakura or fuyuzakura (Prunus subhirtella autumnalis) begins to bloom in the fall and continues blooming sporadically throughout the winter. It is said to be a cross between edohiganzakura, the Tokyo Higan cherry (P. incisa) and mamezakura (P. pendula).
  Other categories include yamazakura, yaezakura, and shidarezakura. The yaezakura have large flowers, thick with rich pink petals. The shidarezakura, or weeping cherry, has branches that fall like those of a weeping willow, bearing cascades of pink flowers.
caption: Prunus serrulata in Ponta Grossa, southern Brazil.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Google"}