Taxonomy

• Kingdom: Plantae
• Clade: Tracheophytes
• Clade: Angiosperms
• Clade: Eudicots
• Clade: Superrosids
• Clade: Rosids
• Clade: Fabids
• Order: Rosales
• Family: Rosaceae
• Subfamily: Amygdaloideae
• Tribe: Amygdaleae
• Genus: Prunus
• Species: Prunus spinosa

Presence

Present.

Conservation status

• Red List (Metropolitan France): LC Least Concern
• Red List (Europe): LC Least Concern

Notes

Hybridizes with:

• P. cerasifera Ehrh., 1789 to produce P. × simmleri Palez., 1920, P;
• P. insititia L., 1755 to produce P × fruticans Weihe, 1826, P (het. syn. P. spinosa var. fruticans (Weihe) Coss. & Germ., 1861).

Large fruited individuals of P. spinosa (kernel length > 11 mm) are often treated as a variety of P. spinosa, under the name P. spinosa var. fruticans (Weihe) Coss. & Germ., 1861, but a recent phylogenetic study supports the hybrid origin of these plants (Vander Mijnsbrugge et al., 2016).

Photographs

Sources

• Collett, L., Draper Munt, D., Magos Brehm, J., Eliáš, P., Smekalova, T., Korpelainen, H., Labokas, J., Strajeru, S., Bulińska, Z., & Tavares, M. (2011). Prunus spinosa (Europe assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2011. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/172194/6846444

• Tison, J.M., & de Foucault, B. (2014). Flora Gallica : Flore de France (p. 995). Biotope.

• Vander Mijnsbrugge, K., Turcsán, A., Depypere, L., & Steenackers, M. (2016). Variance, Genetic Control, and Spatial Phenotypic Plasticity of Morphological and Phenological Traits in Prunus spinosa and Its Large Fruited Forms (P. x fruticans). Frontiers in Plant Science, 7, 1641. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2016.01641