Identification: Accolade - early double pink blooming

Discussion in 'Ornamental Cherries' started by Douglas Justice, Jan 11, 2008.

  1. Douglas Justice

    Douglas Justice Well-Known Member UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout Maple Society 10 Years

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    This is a scan of Prunus 'Accolade'. Flowers on this twig (from a specimen growing on Ocean Cliff area in White Rock, collected on 8 January 2008), are 2 to 3 cm in diameter when fully opened. The flowers are distinctly cupped at first, then saucer-shaped. The individual petals are also somewhat concave, fairly broad and notched. Each flower is composed of about a dozen petals, including one or two staminodes (incomplete petals derived from stamens). The pink, which is considerably brighter than in 'Autumnalis Rosea' and considerably less mauve than in 'Whitcomb', tends to migrate to the petal edges as the flowers open. This creates a pale pink, almost white, open centre to the flowers. The yellow anthers are thus displayed more prominently, as compared with 'Autumnalis Rosea', which has twisted petals that tend to crowd the centre of the flower. The form of the tree is wide-spreading, and the twigs are lustrous, light brown and verrucose (warty), though the warts or bumps are larger and smoother than those on 'Autumnalis Rosea'. The actual ultimate twig diameter is also larger (ca. 1.8 mm vs. ca. 1.2 mm for 'Autumnalis Rosea')
     

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    Last edited: Jan 11, 2008
  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Early!
     
  3. Douglas Justice

    Douglas Justice Well-Known Member UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout Maple Society 10 Years

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    Yes, very early. White Rock is exceptionally mild. None of the 'Accolade' that I know in south Vancouver are anywhere near bud-break. Nevertheless, one of our volunteer Friends of the Garden (FOGs), who has a garden some ways up Burrard Inlet (at the start of Indian Arm), tells me that her 'Accolade' blooms reliably at Christmas every year. I was dubious, knowing that Prunus xsubhirtella 'Autumnalis Rosea' could be mistaken for 'Accolade', but then she brought me a piece. 'Accolade'.
     
  4. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    By "blooming", is it having some blooms on a few branches, as in the photo below? If I've finally got these things straight, the 'Autumnalis Rosea' have been covered in tiny (smaller than a nickel) blossoms all over the tree since November, as in this photo on the Autumnalis Rosea thread. The Accolades that have lots of flowers now (early January) in the west end in Vancouver have them clumped on only a few branches, as in the photo below (if this Aquatic Centre tree is an Accolade, which I'm back to thinking it is). These flowers are much larger than the Autumnalis Rosea, though I've read that in the spring we won't be able to judge by that, as the Autumnalis Rosea flowers will be larger than their winter size.

    Does the last photo show a staminode on the largest clump, or is that just a droopy petal?
     

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  5. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    The 'Autumnalis Rosea' has narrower petals and more numerous and slender twigs than the 'Accolade'.
     
  6. Douglas Justice

    Douglas Justice Well-Known Member UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout Maple Society 10 Years

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    I think you can assume that any of the cherries that are producing flowers at this time are not in "full bloom." The reasons for these precocious blossoms is not obvious to me--perhaps these are last year's first formed flower buds.

    Staminodes are partially formed petals that are produced in or adjacent to the ring of stamens near the centre of the flower. The extra petals in many (most?) double flowers have their origins in staminal tissue (see also "vexillate filaments," which have flag-like extensions above the anthers). The typical staminode is somewhat cupped and asymmetrical, but there is a definite transition series of stamen-staminode-petaloid-petal.
     
  7. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Some 'Autumnalis Rosea' down here are getting fairly well filled with flowers at this point, definitely more than a dribble. But I'm not sure I'd call it full bloom quite yet.
     
  8. beautifulbotany

    beautifulbotany Member

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    Douglas -

    'Accolade' is one of my favourite cherries and the P. sargentii in its parentage (along with P. x subhirtella) means it's hardy here, though winter often does in the buds anyway. This year, with lots of snow but relatively mild temps, we're keeping our fingers crossed for a nice late April showing. I'm enclosing a photo.

    And I noticed in one of your 2007 posts your comment that Prunus 'Pandora' had disappeared "without a trace". Just thought I'd let you know that there is an old specimen at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, ON which I've photographed.

    Janet Davis,
    www.beautifulbotany.com
    Toronto
     

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  9. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    A 'Pandora' at Lakewold Gardens, Lakewood, WA measured 51' x 4'0" x 41' in 1992. See Van Pelt, CHAMPION TREES OF WASHINGTON STATE (1996, University of Washington Press).

    http://www.lakewoldgardens.org/index.htm
     
  10. Douglas Justice

    Douglas Justice Well-Known Member UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout Maple Society 10 Years

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    That's a lovely photo. We don't have much activity on this forum from people who don't live around here. Thanks, Janet. Nice to hear from you. Could you post the 'Pandora' image for us to see?

    And Ron, Are you familiar with the cultivar? Does it stand up to the ravages of brown rot there (which is why, I suspect, it isn't obvious around Vancouver)? I'd love to visit the Seattle area just for cherry-viewing sometime. Do you know if someone has put together a self tour?
     
  11. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Don't know current condition of Lakewold specimen, do remember when I saw it (in leaf) there were no obvious difficulties visible. Possible, however, without knowing details of maintenance operations there at the time that it was on a spray program. Should be possible to contact the garden and get more information, it was a featured tree there with its own sign ("Pandora's Plum").

    Best reference for Seattle would be Jacobson, TREES OF SEATTLE - SECOND EDITION. One limitation is that rare kinds not seen by him outside of Seattle arboretum are not included.
     
  12. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Fall colour on 'Accolade' at Chilco mini-park.
     

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  13. beautifulbotany

    beautifulbotany Member

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    We had a very early spring in Toronto, after a mild winter. So our 'Accolade' cherries and Yoshinos were full of bloom. Autumn colour also followed a little earlier than normal. This is the same tree in Mount Pleasant Cemetery (a 200-acre greenspace near my home that is also a fine arboretum) on April 15th and October 25th.
     

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  14. beautifulbotany

    beautifulbotany Member

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    Re: Pandora cherry

    Douglas - I confess I haven't returned to this forum until my email alerted me today that there was an entry re 'Accolade', to which I responded. So I hadn't seen your request re 'Pandora' from February 2008.

    I am especially interested in Japanese cherries, and have photographed them all over the world, including Washington, New York, London's KEW, Kyoto and Mount Yoshino.

    My photos of 'Pandora' are not great, but this a small grove of them at Hamilton's Royal Botanical Garden, likely taken on April 29, 2004. Also shown is a closeup of a flowering branch and one of adventitious buds emerging from the trunk.
     

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  15. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Douglas Justice's description that started this thread was quite detailed, but it still seems worth adding here Douglas's 'Accolade' description from Ornamental Cherries of Vancouver.
     

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