My friend , Serena, found out this cherry tree strange, and she can't identify what this cultivar is. It is in the private property, so she may go back and wait for the owner's the permission to get a closer look. Another friend ,Tony, said he may carry his SLR camera to take the close-up photos. They are very enthusiastic. Any one can identify it?
I would have said 'Shirotae', though it's unfashionably late, and it's been pruned to look like a bouquet instead of having its naturally spreading shape. Please ask Serena and friend to get photos close up of the stems, to see if there are hairs, and of the calyx and sepals. That last photo is pretty good, though, showing the extra sepals. Please discuss the ID here in this Ornamental Cherries thread, so all the photos are together.
Really not white? I named it "white" based on the photos. That first photo is very white. Can you ask Serena?
Here comes more photos by Tonny Chan. All were taken on 04/20, except the first one , last year. No hair on the stem ，no glands.
If you can get a shot of the "prominent, darker, thread-like veins" like these on the petals of the Ito-kukuri at 2736 E. 54th (east of Vivian), that would nail the identification of your tree as Ito-kukuri. They are a river-delta network of lines, NOT like the faint lines running up and down on a lot of flowers, including Takasago (which tricked Lisa). Perhaps they appear more visible as the flower ages.
Is this tree fragrant? There are no phylloid pistils at all here. Of the trees we know, it looks most like 'Hosokawa-nioi', but that has a knock-your-socks-off fragrance. This might have too many petals for that; I do see one leaf without an attenuated tip, in the 5th photo in the second set. Some of my photos of 'Ito-kukuri' have no phylloid bits, but other photos do have them.
Because the tree is inside the property, so I can't tell frangrant or not and it is not easy to take a detailed photo of the flower. Here are some more photos to compare . Photos taken by Tony, Sunny and Janice. There first and the second show the tree in 14th W , the planting location and the flower color on 4/20. The third and the forth, fifth show the ito-kukuri flowers and leaves color on 54th & Vivian on 4/21 . The last one is ito-kukuri in Richmond worksafe BC.
Douglas Justice has gone to see the tree and suggests 'Yokihi'. What I like about that ID is that the flowers show no phylloid pistils in the centre of the flowers. I just saw 'Ito-kukuri' and 'Ojochin' at UBCBG yesterday that were totally white, so this tree being totally white I have to think could be ok too. However, in the Kitsilano thread, the posting just before this tree is 'Yokihi'. Maybe it was not the same people who saw the 'Yokihi', on the same street (!) and this one, that I called white on the subject line. Clearly the 'Yokihi' photos in our book were taken at a different stage of blooming. These are the photos that are in the book. Is there someone who knows where both those trees are and can compare them?
There are more photos for identifying , taken by Sandy , who took the Yokihi, the posting just before this tree is 'Yokihi', and the unknown one in roughly the same day. Some of my friends all saw both two, because their location is just one house in between. It's hard to believe both cherry trees are the same cultivar. The first row is the Yokihi and the second row is an unknown one . The unknown one:
OK, what about 'Hokusai', also known as 'Fukurokuju' ? Kuitert (Japanese Flowering Cherries, p. 247-249) writes them up together, yet shows a photo of different sepals of the two, which Kuitert has uploaded to ResearchGate. Here's a description from Fukurokuju - Keele University: Prunus 'Hokusai' is a Collingwood Ingram selection in 1925 from closely related clones, but identical to 'Fukurokuju'. A vase-shaped tree to 8 m high with a crown to 15m across. It forms large trees with big flowers - distinctive. Forms clusters of 3 - 5 flowers, purplish pink in bud opening to pale pink (RHS 69-C). Flowers are c.5 cm dia., with 10 - 15 petals opening to a flat plane. Flowers late April - early May. The ovary is always visible. Young foliage is bronze-green (RHS 152-A, 199-A). The Keele site writes up 'Hokusai' separately: Hokusai - Keele University A medium tree to 5m, upright and vase-shaped when young but spreading with age. The flowers are large, semi-double, pale pink and highly scented. The young foliage is bronze-coloure, turning gree over summer and yellow in the autumn. It is an old cultivar introduced by Collingwood Ingram and named after a well-known Japanese artist. What seems to match are the calyx shape, very short peduncles, lack of phylloid pistils, flowers opening to a flat plane, wrinkled flower appearance, blooming time, and bronze new leaves. And it's known in Seattle. What doesn't work for me are the fimbriated petal tips, which I don't see much in the many photos at Cherry var. Fukurokujyu – Flower and Garden in Japan and more… (khaawsflowerpicture.com), except for one. And I'm not too convinced about the stipules.
