Identification: Okame - fairly early, tiny single pink, very red sepals

Discussion in 'Ornamental Cherries' started by Joseph Lin, Mar 19, 2008.

  1. Joseph Lin

    Joseph Lin Active Member 10 Years

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    Re: Ubc

    Several Okame cherry trees are blooming at the parkade entrance by the UBC Asian Centre. I was excited by the first sighting.
     

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    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 6, 2009
  2. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    I wanted to post Okame leaves, but I see we didn't even have a thread started for this cultivar. I've copied Joseph Lin's posting from the UBC Neighbourhood Blogs for the photos. In that forum, Douglas Justice wrote
    You can also see the influence of Prunus incisa in the doubly serrate leaves.
    20091005_FraserParkade_Okame_Cutler_5976.jpg 20091005_FraserParkade_Okame_Cutler_5979.jpg

    I'm going to just quote from Douglas's Ornamental Cherries in Vancouver book for the description:

    A modern hybrid valued primarily for its small stature and dark flowers, ‘Okame’
    displays a tight, rounded crown. ‘Okame’ is readily recognized in flower because
    of its unusually narrow flowers, which are borne in large, drooping clusters and show
    the prominent reddish calyx tube to advantage. Normally a large shrub or small tree,
    this cultivar often shows considerable disease susceptibility when grown on mazzard
    rootstock.

    TREES
    uncommon
    shrub or tree with a rounded crown
    branching twiggy

    LEAVES
    new leaves bronze to reddish green
    quickly turn green

    FLOWERS
    flowering late March to early April
    flowers to 2 cm across
    delicate, pointed buds open clear, pale pink
    from a distance the flowers appear red because of the
    prominent calyx tube and sepals
    petals narrow and notched, fading to white
    centres stained red
    emerge before leaves in corymbs of 3 to 5 pendulous flowers,
    abundantly produced and often tightly packed together

    SEPALS
    5, prominently triangular

    CALYX-TUBE
    red, funnel-shaped
     
  3. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    There are six of these trees at Haggens supermarket in Ferndale, just west of the Axton Road/Main St freeway exit. I thought they were were a lot healthier than ours, but then when I got home and saw the photos, I saw the brown rot.
    20110327_HaggensFerndale_Okame_Cutler_P1080883.jpg 20110327_HaggensFerndale_Okame_Cutler_P1080894.jpg 20110327_HaggensFerndale_Okame_Cutler_P1080895.jpg
    20110327_HaggensFerndale_Okame_Cutler_P1080896.jpg 20110327_HaggensFerndale_Okame_Cutler_P1080902.jpg 20110327_HaggensFerndale_Okame_Cutler_P1080904.jpg 20110327_HaggensFerndale_Okame_Cutler_P1080906.jpg
     
  4. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    We don't get much chance to bliss out on good-looking 'Okame' blossoms, so these are just the same Axton Road Haggens Supermarket planting as in the previous photo, two years later, on March 15. The trees along the building seem quite a bit healthier than the ones separating the cars on the parking lot. The timing seems to be maybe a week earlier than two years ago, as they were pretty much at peak bloom this time.
     

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