Prunus kansuensis

Prunus kansuensis (Chinese: 甘肃桃; pinyin: Gānsù táo; lit.: 'Gansu peach'), sometimes called the Chinese bush peach, is a putative species of peach native to China. It is found in Gansu, Guizhou, Hubei, Qinghai, Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces. It is a shrub or tree 3 to 7 m (10 to 23 ft) tall, preferring to grow at 1,000 to 2,300 m (3,300 to 7,500 ft) above sea level.[4] A genetic and morphological study has shown that it is conspecific with Prunus persica, the cultivated peach.[5] P. kansuensis is being investigated as a source for rootstocks and for crop improvement due to its resistance to multiple diseases, to drought, and to frost.[6][7] It is unaffected by peach mosaic virus,[8] resistant to the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita,[9] and tolerates winter temperatures down to −35 °C (−31 °F).[10][11]

Prunus kansuensis pit (left) grooved but not pitted, P. persica (center), and P. davidiana (right)[12]

Prunus kansuensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Prunus
Species:
P. kansuensis
Binomial name
Prunus kansuensis
Synonyms
  • Amygdalus kansuensis (Rehder) Skeels[2]
  • Amygdalus kansuensis var. obtusinucleata Y.F.Qu, Xue L.Chen & Y.S.Lian
  • Persica kansuensis (Rehder) Kovalev & Kostina[3]

Description

Prunus kansuensis can be difficult to distinguish from its close relatives P. mira (Tibetan peach), P. davidiana (Chinese wild peach), and P. persica (domestic peach), especially if only vegetative characters are used.[lower-alpha 1] Many specimens of P. kansuensis are shrubs, whereas most specimens of the other species are trees. P. kansuensis and P. mira have smooth endocarps (covering of the seed) but P. davidiana and P. persica endocarps have the typically pitted appearance seen in domestic peaches.[5] P. kansuensis can be distinguished from P. mira by having externally pubescent (or rarely subglabrous) sepals; P. mira sepals are externally glabrous. P. davidiana mesocarps (the flesh of the fruits) dry out, the other species' fruits remain moist. P. davidiana has a number of other distinguishing characters, and is also genetically divergent from the other peaches.[5]

P. kansuensis winter buds are ovoid to long ovoid and glabrous, P. persica winter buds are conical and pubescent. P. kansuensis petioles are about 0.5 to 1 cm (0.2 to 0.4 in) long, P. persica petioles are about 1 to 2 cm (0.4 to 0.8 in) long. There are subtle but inconsistent differences in the leaves, with P. kansuensis leaves typically a bit shorter and with fewer serrations per unit length than P. persica. There are also subtle difference in floral characters, the most obvious being that the styles in P. kansuensis flowers are longer than the stamens, with P. persica styles shorter (or at most equal to) their stamens.[5]

Uses

In China it is used as a rootstock for cultivated peaches and almonds, and sometimes grown as an ornamental for its profuse shell-pink flowers which blossom in early spring. When cultivated and tended, it often takes the tree form.[13] P. kansuensis is a ruderal species and is used in the process of returning farmland to forest, since it can provide some income to farmers during the transition.[14] Its white-fleshed fruit is small, relatively flavorless, and is not generally considered salable, although some people cultivate and eat them locally.[11] The fruit is eaten by the endangered golden snub‑nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana).[15]

Notes
  1. Yazbek's treatment is largely followed here. She included Prunus ferganensis, the Fergana peach, as a mere variety of P. persica in her monograph. She found that it had no distinguishing genetic or morphological characters whatsoever.
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References
  1. J. Arnold Arbor. 3: 21. 1922
  2. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 38: 87. 1925
  3. Bull. Appl. Bot., Leningrad, ser. 8, 4: 75. 1935
  4. "甘肃桃 gan su tao". Flora of China. efloras.org. Retrieved 30 October 2018. Mountain areas; 1000--2300 m
  5. Yazbek, Mariana Mostafa (February 2010). Systematics of Prunus Subgenus Amygdalus: Monograph and Phylogeny (PDF) (PhD). Cornell University. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  6. Dirlewanger, Elisabeth; Graziano, Enrique; Joobeur, Tarek; Garriga-Calderé, Francesc; Cosson, Patrick; Howad, Werner; Arús, Pere (29 June 2004). "Comparative mapping and marker-assisted selection in Rosaceae fruit crops". PNAS. 101 (26): 9891–9896. doi:10.1073/pnas.0307937101. PMC 470769. PMID 15159547.
  7. Hong, De-Yuan; Blackmore, Stephen (June 2015). Plants of China: A Companion to the Flora of China. Cambridge University Press. p. 287. ISBN 9781107070172.
  8. Pine, Thomas Sheffield (January 1976). "Peach Mosaic". Virus Diseases and Noninfectious Disorders of Stone Fruits in North America (Agriculture Handbook No. 437). Agricultural Research Service, USDA. pp. 61–70.
  9. Cao, Ke; Wang, Lirong; Zhu, Gengrui; Fang, Weichao; Chen, Chenwen; Zhao, Pei (May 2011). "Construction of a Linkage Map and Identification of Resistance Gene Analog Markers for Root-knot Nematodes in Wild Peach, Prunus kansuensis". Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. 136 (3): 190–197. doi:10.21273/JASHS.136.3.190. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  10. Zeven, A.C.; Zhukovsky, P.M. (1975). Dictionary of cultivated plants and their centres of diversity. Wageningen: Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation. p. 36. ISBN 978-9022005491.
  11. Layne, Desmond R.; Bassi, Daniele (November 2008). The Peach : Botany, Production and Uses. Cabi. p. 3. ISBN 9781845933869.
  12. Zheng, Yunfei; Crawford, Gary W.; Chen, Xugao; Yang, Xiaoyan (5 September 2014). "Archaeological Evidence for Peach (Prunus persica) Cultivation and Domestication in China". PLOS ONE. 9 (9): e106595. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0106595. PMC 4156326. PMID 25192436.
  13. Rehder, Alfred (July 1921). "New Species, Varieties and Combinations from the Herbarium and the Collections of the Arnold Arboretum (continued)". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 3 (1): 11–51. JSTOR 43782540.
  14. 段, 义字 (25 June 2005). "退耕宜林地高效利用增值评估分析". 人民黄河 (in Chinese). 27 (6): 40–47. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  15. Guo, Songtao; Ji, Weihong; Li, Baoguo; Li, Ming (4 August 2008). "Response of a group of Sichuan snub‐nosed monkeys to commercial logging in the Qinling Mountains, China". Conservation Biology. 22 (4): 1055–1064. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.00975.x. PMID 18616738.
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