King cherry
| King cherry | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Rosaceae |
| Genus: | Prunus |
| Subgenus: | Cerasus |
| Species: | Cerasus × nudiflora (P. yedoensis) |
| Binomial name | |
|
Cerasus × nudiflora (Prunus yedoensis) ^note1 : See Name section for details. |
|
King cherry (왕벚 wangbeoj, 왕벚나무 wangbeojnamu or 왕벚꽃 wangbeojkkoch, Hanja: 王벚나무) is a Korean native cherry tree originated from Jeju Island. It is a distinct species from Japanese native Yoshino cherry. King cherry is a rare plant and listed as an endangered species. As of 1998, 33 King cherry trees were growing around Mt. Halla in Jeju Island. According to Koidzumi, King cherry is erroneously believed to be discovered by a French missionary Taquet although what he discovered was a different species.
There have been disputes over the origin of king cherry and Yoshino cherry. In 2007, a study conducted on the comparison of king cherry and Yoshino cherry concluded that these trees were categorized as distinct species. However, in Korea, king cherry is still believed to be the same species as Yoshino cherry. In Korea most of the places for cherry blossom festivals, including Yeouido and Jinhae, are still planted with Japanese Yoshino cherry trees.
In 1901, Yoshino cherry was given a scientific name Prunus Yedoensis by Ninzo Matsumura after its place of origin Yedo (current day Tokyo). In early 1900s, king cherry was thought to be the same species as Yoshino cherry, it is called Prunus yedoensis, the same scientific name as Yoshino cherry. After Ernest Henry Wilson suggested Yoshino cherry is a hybrid between Prunus subhirtella var. ascendens (Edo higan) and Prunus lannesiana (Oshima zakura) in 1916, Yoshino cherry became to be called Prunus × yedoensis. However king cherry still remained to be called Prunus yedoensis which is originally given to Yoshino cherry.
The Korean name wangbeojnamu (왕벚나무, king cherry) was created in 1963 when the Korean official plant resource survey team found three trees, until then it was called sakulanamu (사쿠라나무, sakura) or teolbeojnamu (털벚나무, hair cherry).Wangbeojnamu means "king cherry tree" while wangbeojkkoch means "king cherry blossom". The Korean name wangbeojnamu or wangbeojkkoch does not distinguish Yoshino cherry from king cherry because they have been thought to be the same species. If necessary, Yoshino cherry is referred to as someiyoshino (소메이요시노), a transliteration of a Japanese name for Yoshino cherry.
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