Prunus × yedoensis Yoshino flowering cherry

Yoshino flowering cherries at Grove House. Sairus Patel, 3 Apr 2023

The predominant tree in cherry blossom (sakura) festivals across Japan, its mighty front of delicate bloom begins in the south in February and ripples northward until early May. Tokyo’s much-anticipated forecasts hover around late March to early April, timing that approximates our own. At Stanford, expect to see Yoshino cherry in full bloom, or getting there, on returning from spring break. The pink buds open into faintly pink blossoms, white when fully opened, though the remaining flower buds along with the reddish calyx cups preserve the overall impression of pale pink. The crowns spread pleasingly wide, quite suitable for lounging under or for extending over a canal embankment, but here they seldom achieve great size.

Two small Yoshino cherries flank the entrance to Grove (584 Mayfield Avenue); two more are down the street at 658 Mayfield. Find some at the entrance to the Humanities Center on Santa Teresa Street (1952), and others between Forsythe Hall and Via Ortega Garage among the Chinese fringe trees.

Most of the cherries in Washington, D.C.’s Potomac Park are of this species, a 1912 gift from the mayor of Tokyo. A hybrid unknown in the wild, the common variety of Prunus × yedoensis is known in Japan as ‘Somei-yoshino’. Cultivar ‘Akebono’ – selected in 1912 by the W. B. Clarke nursery of San Jose, California – blooms a little later and is said to be slightly pinker. Curiously, one in every few dozen of its flowers produces a reduced petal-like stamen in the center, a distinctive trait. Small but floriferous ‘Akebono’ specimens can be seen in the circular planter in the back patio of Tresidder Union and just west of Building 170. A trio was planted in 2024 on the south side of the Anderson Collection. A larger tree rises above the fence at the entrance to Bing Nursery School, and two are in Gamble Garden in Palo Alto.