shirotae

Prunus 'Shirotae'

(Syn:- ‘Mount Fuji’, ‘Kojima’, P. serrulata f. albida (Miyoshi), P. lannesiana Wils cv. Sirotae

One of the most beautiful Japanese flowering cherries but not one for the small garden if its full beauty is to be appreciated. It forms a wide spreading flat headed tree to 25 - 30 ft dia. which at maturity becomes umbrella-shaped with branches almost reaching the ground. It thus needs an open siting for its shape to be developed fully.

It is very floriferous. Flowers are very large - to 6.5 cm (c.3") dia., single or semi-double (12-20 petals), cup-shaped, snow white in colour with thin smooth petals, occurring in long drooping corymbs of 4 to 6 blooms, fragrant with an almond scent. The buds often have a faint pink tinge. Peduncles are 1.5 to 5.0 cm (0.6 to 2") long and pedicels are 1.5 to 3.5 cm (0.6 to 1.5"). Flowers appear at the same time as the young leaves which are large, pale green and have distinctive fringed margins. Flowering is early to mid season.

According to Kuitert (1993), it was planted at the beginning of the 19^th century in the garden Yokuon-en of Matsuda and then spread to Japanese collections via the Arakawa River Collection in the Meiji era. It was exported to the West by the Yokohama Nursery Company c.1900 as ‘Mount Fuji’. The name Shirotae references a white cloth made from the fibres of the inner bark of the paper mulberry (Broussoneta papyrifera).

Collingwood (Cherry) Ingram initially thought that there were two distinct varieties: a single flowered form which he named ‘Kojima’ (in 1925), and the semi-double ‘Shirotae’. However, observation showed that the flowers of immature specimens were often nearly single but become semi-double as the tree matures, so he concluded that ‘Kojima’ was just the juvenile stage of ‘Shirotae’

Triploid set of chromosomes (2n=24)

The cultivar ‘Amayadori’ (which see) is very closely related to ‘Shirotae’ A recent extensive study of the DNA patterns of Japanese Cherry cultivars has shown the two cultivars to be indistinguishable (Kato et al. 2012, 2014). Both appear to be mainly derived from the wild cherry species Prunus speciosa.

Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (AGM) 1993, reconfirmed 2012

Manual of Japanese Flowering Cherries No. 128

Location

• Two in the grounds of Holly Lodge, Un-tagged.
• One in the grounds of Holly Cross; square H8; tag 3883.