Prunus L.
Genus composed of some 255 species, mainly distributed along temperate and cold zones of the Northern Hemisphere. In North Africa it is represented by 8 species, all distributed throughout the Mediterranean area.
Key to species
1 Tree with coriaceous, persistent leaves Prunus lusitanica
1 Trees or shrubs with leaves not coriaceous, deciduous 2
2 Shrubs thorny and erect, or creeping subshrubs 3
2 Trees not thorny 5
3 Subshrub creeping, not thorny, with red fruits Prunus prostrata
3 Shrub erect, more or less thorny, with non-red fruit 4
4 Fruits ovoid-compressed, acute, villous-silky, green, that open revealing endocarp (amonds) Prunus webbii
4 Fruits globose, glabrous, bluish-black (sloe berries) Prunus spinosa
5 Fruits black-blueish (in fact black, but covered with bluish-white waxy powder Prunus insititia
5 Fruits reddish-yellow, red or black 6
6 Inflorescence in long raceme Prunus padus
6 Inflorescence umbelliform, sessile, or in short corymbiform raceme 7
7 Leaves suborbicular. Inflorescence pedunculate Prunus mahaleb
7 Leaves oblong-lanceolate. Inflorescence sessile, although the flowers have long pedicels Prunus avium
Correa, D. P. J. Martínez García, M. J. Sánchez Blanco, J. López Alcolea, C. Jiménez Box, P. Martínez Gómez (2021). El almendro mediterráneo [Prunus webbii (Spach) Vierh., Rosaceae]: una especie olvidada de la flora ibérica con potencial agronómico. Revista de Fruticultura 82: 6-21.
Ferrer‐Gallego, P.P., Wajer, J., & Benítez, G. (2023). Typification of the scientific names of the common almond Prunus dulcis and its wild relative P. webbii (Rosaceae, Prunoideae). Taxon, 72(5), 1080-1092.
Kurtto, A. 2009. Rosaceae (pro parte majore). In: Euro+Med Plantbase – the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity.
Key to species
1 Tree with coriaceous, persistent leaves Prunus lusitanica
1 Trees or shrubs with leaves not coriaceous, deciduous 2
2 Shrubs thorny and erect, or creeping subshrubs 3
2 Trees not thorny 5
3 Subshrub creeping, not thorny, with red fruits Prunus prostrata
3 Shrub erect, more or less thorny, with non-red fruit 4
4 Fruits ovoid-compressed, acute, villous-silky, green, that open revealing endocarp (amonds) Prunus webbii
4 Fruits globose, glabrous, bluish-black (sloe berries) Prunus spinosa
5 Fruits black-blueish (in fact black, but covered with bluish-white waxy powder Prunus insititia
5 Fruits reddish-yellow, red or black 6
6 Inflorescence in long raceme Prunus padus
6 Inflorescence umbelliform, sessile, or in short corymbiform raceme 7
7 Leaves suborbicular. Inflorescence pedunculate Prunus mahaleb
7 Leaves oblong-lanceolate. Inflorescence sessile, although the flowers have long pedicels Prunus avium
Updated by: N. Hidalgo.