Prunus spinosa the more shrubby habit with stiffer, wider-angled branches of "P. spinosa"; in summer by the relatively narrower leaves of "P. spinosa", more than twice as long as broad; and in autumn by the colour of the fruit skin purplish black in "P. spinosa" and yellow or red in "P. cerasifera". "Prunus spinosa" has a tetraploid (2"n"=4"x"=32) set of chromosomes. The specific name "" is a Latin term indicating the pointed and thornlike spur shoots characteristic of this species. The common name "" is due to the thorny nature of the shrub, and its very dark bark. The word commonly used
Prunus tianshanica Prunus tianshanica Prunus tianshanica, the Tianshan cherry, is a species of cherry native to the Tianshan Mountains of Central Asia, preferring to grow at 800-1000m. "Prunus tianshanica" is a shrub reaching . The bark is grey, turning browner with age. The flowers are pink, and the dark red fruits, although small, are high in sugar and pleasant to the taste. It hybridizes naturally with "Prunus cerasifera", and the offspring produce fruit. A phylogenetic reconstruction using twelve chloroplast loci and three nuclear genes of 84 species of "Prunus" shows that "Cerasus" is indisputably a synonym (and subgenus) of "Prunus" and that