Prunus × blireiana
Common name: 
Blireiana Plum
Pronunciation: 
PROO-nus bli-ree-A-na
Genus: 
Synonyms: 
Prunus × blireana
Type: 
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
No
  • Broadleaf deciduous tree, 20 by 20 ft (6 x 6 m), rounded, dense branching, trunk often has large bumps.  Leaves alternate, simple, at first purple but fade to green, 3-6 cm long, ovate, apex acuminate, base rounded.  Blooms in very early spring before leaves appear, flowers solitary, pink, double, 3 cm across, somewhat fragrant.  Fruit purplish red, but rarely formed.
  • Sun.  A short lived tree-- my guess is that in Corvallis, a healthy looking tree at 35 years-old would be rare.  Very attractive in flower, but Jacobson (1996, p. 487) states the following --- "Habit chaotic, congested, and twiggy.  The trunk develops unsightly warts and burls.  It is as if the cream-of-the-crop genetics went into flowers, leaving only the dregs for the rest of the tree."
  • Hardy to USDA Zone 5      A hybrid of P. cerasifera ‘Atropurpurea’ and a double form of P. mume.  Developed in France, introduced in 1905.  See Revue Horticole, 1905, p. 302.
  • blireiana: of Blere, France.  This is the spelling used by the Revue Horticole (1905) when the plant was introduced, however, blireana is the spelling used by the Royal Hort. Soc.(Huxely, 1992), Krüssmann (1976), and Dir (2009). 
  • Oregon State Univ. campus: southeast corner of Vet. Research Lab., which is south of Dryden Hall.
Click image to enlarge
  • plant habit, early spring flowering

    plant habit, early spring flowering

  • plant habit, 9 years later

    plant habit, 9 years later

  • flowering branches

    flowering branches

  • flowers)

    flowers)

  • flowers

    flowers

  • leaf, spring

    leaf, spring

  • plant habit, summer

    plant habit, summer

  • leaves, summer

    leaves, summer

  • trunk, bark

    trunk, bark