Last June I was in Princeton visiting a friend with my Husband, and Brother and Sister in Law. Her and I went for a walk around the 20 acre property. There was a beautiful bush growing on that property that had most beautiful cream coloured flowers, reminded me somewhat of Buddlelia. She comes from Finland, as do my ancestors. In Finland she said that that shrub grows as well, and they call it "Tuomi". Is this shrub called something here that I may be familiar with. I tried an internet search on the name of this shrub which she said, and only came up with an author's name, nothing plant like. Anyone know? It was a lovely sight to see. Cindi
The Finnish name of Prunus padus is indeed "tuomi". Actually, it is a true tree, and the petals are white. The species is very common in our country. Warmest regards, Harri Harmaja http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/harmaja/index.htm
P. virginiana is similar and although primarily seen growing wild east of the mountains does also occur here and there on this side; I have seen a few trees (from the car only) myself that I thought belonged to this species, going by their general aspect. One such location is near Bellingham. P. padus does appear to be naturalized near I-5 northeast of Stanwood, WA, as well as occurring in northwest WA as an occasional larger planted specimen near houses - probably the result of northern European settlement in the area. Bailey, Manual of Cultivated Plants - Revised Edition (1949, Macmillan Company, New York) splits these two in a dichotomous key this way (in part): ...fls. in wide-spreading or drooping racemes; petals twice as long as stamens...P. padus ...fls. in upright or ascending racemes (at first); petals scarcely exceeding stamens...P. virginiana
Hi, I'm Finnish too, but had to check my dictionary. It gives two trees, first the prunus padus as mentioned here already, calling it a bird-cherry. The other is betula lenta or sweet (cherry, black) birch.