Prunus and Pliny uses "prūnus silvestris" to mean the blackthorn. The word is not native Latin, but is a loan from Greek προῦνον ("prounon"), which is a variant of προῦμνον ("proumnon"), origin unknown. The tree is προύμνη ("proumnē"). Most dictionaries follow Hoffman, "Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Griechischen", in making some form of the word a loan from a pre-Greek language of Asia Minor, related to Phrygian. The first use of "Prunus" as a genus name was by Carl Linnaeus in "Hortus Cliffortianus" of 1737, which went on to become "Species Plantarum". In that work, Linnaeus attributes the word to "Varr.", who it
Prunus speciosa Prunus speciosa Prunus speciosa, the Oshima cherry, Japanese オオシマザクラ (Oshima zakura), is native to Izu Ōshima island and the Izu Peninsula on Honshū near Tokyo, Japan. "Prunus speciosa" is a deciduous tree typically high. The leaves are 5–10 cm long and 3–6 cm broad, with a double-toothed margin, and an acuminate apex. The flowers are 2.5–4 cm diameter, with five white petals, gold stamens and brown sepals; they grow in clusters in the spring, and are hermaphroditic. The fruit is a small black cherry about 1 cm diameter. A tree 8 m in circumference and 800 years old is known