Desert almond

Emplectocladus fasciculatus Torrey, Proc. Amer. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 4: 192. 1851

Shrubs, suckering, ˂much branched˃, 10–20(–30) dm, thorny. Twigs with axillary end buds, glabrous or canescent. Leaves deciduous; sessile; blade oblanceolate to linear, 0.5–2 × 0.1–0.2(–0.4) cm, base long-attenuate, margins nearly entire or obscurely and remotely serrulate in distal 1/3, teeth blunt to sharp, sometimes glandular, apex rounded to acute, surfaces puberulent or glabrous or low-papillate (var. punctata). Inflorescences solitary flowers or 2-flowered fascicles. Pedicels 0–4 mm, glabrous. Flowers ˂unisexual, plants dioecious˃, blooming at leaf emergence; hypanthium campanulate, 1.5–3 mm, glabrous externally; sepals erect-spreading, triangular, 0.7–1 mm, margins entire, surfaces glabrous; petals white to yellowish, elliptic, obovate, or suborbiculate, 1.4–2.5(–4) mm; ovaries hairy. Drupes gray to red-brown, ovoid, ˂± compressed˃, 7–15 mm, densely puberulent; ˂hypanthium tardily deciduous˃; mesocarps leathery to dry; stones ovoid, ± flattened.

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora): sw United States, nw Mexico.

Lower Taxa

• Prunus fasciculata var. fasciculata
• Prunus fasciculata var. punctata Jepson