Species and varieties in the National Collection of Flowering Cherries at
Keele University
Prunus x kanzakura 'Kawazu'
‘Kawazu’ is an early flowering variety of cherry tree of relatively recent origin in Japan. The Kawazu-zakura cherry blossoms have become famous as some of the earliest-blooming cherry blossoms in Tokyo's outlying areas.
The trees usually start flowering there around the beginning of February, but do so at an uncharacteristically slow pace compared to most other cherry tree varieties. The flowers are bright pink single with large pink petals opening before the leaves. It is an interspecific hybrid between P. campanulata (Bell-flowered cherry or Kanhizakura) and P.speciosa (Oshima Cherry).
The original Kawazu Cherry Tree was first discovered wild in Kawazu City, on the eastern coast of the Izu Peninsula south of Tokyo, in the 1950s and transplanted into the garden of Mr Norinobo Iida. The original tree, now over 60 years old stands in a residential district of Kawazu. Clones were then systematically planted across the city by the various neighbourhoods, mostly along the Kawazu River, until there are now some 8,000 of these trees in and around Kawazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture. The Kawazu-zakura Cherry Blossom Festival is held yearly during the blooming season from early February to early March in the city.
MJFC No. 93
Location
- One in the Memorial Garden; square K11; tag 4347. Planted in 2022