Desert Almond (Prunus fasciculata)
Description
Prunus fasciculata grows up to 2 meters (6 feet) high, exceptionally larger, with horizontally branching (divaricate) branches, that may have a small amount of thorns (spinescent) often in thickets. The bark is grey and without hairs (glabrous).Desert Almond leaves, fruit and flower The leaves are 5-10 mm long, narrow (linear), with a broad, flatten tip that tapers down to a more narrow base, (spatulate, oblanceolate), arranged on very short leaf stem (petiole) like bundles of needles (fascicles). The flowers are small and white with 3-mm petals, occurring either solitary or in fascicles and are without a petal stem (subsessile) growing from the leaf axils. They are dioecious. Male flowers have 10-15 stamens; female, one or more pistils. The plant displays numerous fragrant flowers from March to May, which attract the bees that pollinate it. The drupe is about 1 cm long, ovoid, light brown and pubescent with thin flesh.[
Taxonomic tree
-
Domain: Eukarya
-
-
Kingdom: Plantae
-
-
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
-
-
Class: Magnoliopsida
-
-
Order: Rosales
-
-
Family: Rosaceae
-
-
Genus: Prunus
-
-
-
-
-
-
