Somei-yoshino Cherry, Tokyo Cherry; Yoshino Cherry, but see below                PROO-nus yed-o-EN-sis

• Broadleaf deciduous tree, 50 ft (15 m) high, broadly upright, young branchlets ascending.  Leaves alternate, simple, oval, 12 cm long, elliptic, tip gradually tapering to a sharp point (acuminate), margin doubly serrate, vivid green above, paler and pubescent below, petiole yellowish with red pubescence.  Flowers pink in bud and white when expanded, single, 3.5 cm wide, 5-6 per cluster (raceme); flowers appear before the leaves.  Fruit sometimes form, small, red than black.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 5
• The parentage of the Prunus × yedoensis hybrid is unclear (sometimes given as P. subhirtella × P. speciosa).
• In Japan Prunus × yedoensis is called the The Nation's Flower (Kuitert, 1999). It apparently constitutes the majority of the flowering cherry trees of the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., where 900 were planted in 1912.  They were a gift of the mayor of Tokyo.  The flowers of P. × yedoensis are a light pink in the bud, but almost white when expanded.
• Kuitert (1999) points out that the correct common name is Somei-yoshino.  The cherry tree was traded as "Yoshino" in the 1800's but this name caused confusion since it suggested that it was from the Yoshino region of Japan, which it is not.  It apparently originated from a cherry nursery in the Japanese village of Somei.  To avoid confusion, in 1900 the plant was given the name of 'Somei-yoshino'.  However, the use of the "incorrect" common name, Yoshino Cherry, has persisted in commerce for over a century after the renaming.
• Common cultivars of Prunus × yedoensis include:
  • ‘Akebono’ (syn. ‘Daybreak’, ‘Amerika’)  -  pinks flowers that fade to white.
  • ‘Afterglow’  -  a seedling of and similar to ‘Akebono’ but its pink flowers do not fade to a clear white before petal fall.
  • ‘Shidare Yoshino’  -  weeping form