Prunus serrula Franchet, Pl. Delavay. 196. 1890; P. cerasoides Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don var. tibetica (Batalin) C. K. Schneider; P. odontocalyx H. Léveillé; P. puddum Roxburgh ex Wallich var. tibetica Batalin; P. serrula var. tibetica (Batalin) Koehne.

Trees 2–12 m tall. Bark grayish to purplish brown. Branchlets purplish brown, glabrous; young branchlets appressed pilose. Winter buds acutely ovoid, glabrous or appressed pilose. Stipules linear, shorter than petiole, caducous after anthesis. Petiole 5–8 mm, pilose, glabrescent; leaf blade lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 3.5–7 × 1–2 cm, abaxially pale green and glabrous or pilose on lateral sides of midvein, adaxially dark green and pilose, base rounded, margin acutely serrate or biserrate and teeth with a minute capitate apical gland, apex acuminate; secondary veins 11–16 on either side of midvein. Inflorescences 1-or 2-flowered; involucral bracts brown, narrowly elliptic, ca. 6 × 3 mm, abaxially glabrous, adaxially pilose, margin glandular serrate; peduncle short or absent; bracts brown, narrowly ovate-oblong, 2–2.5 mm, margin glandular serrate. Flowers ca. 1 cm in diam., opening at same time as leaves. Pedicel 6–12 mm, 1.5–2 cm in fruit and apically slightly enlarged, pilose. Hypanthium tubular-campanulate, 5–6 × ca. 3 mm, base outside pilose. Sepals ovate-triangular, ca. 3 mm. Petals white, obovate-elliptic, apex obtuse. Stamens 38–44. Style longer than stamens, glabrous. Drupe purplish black, ovoid, ca. 1 × 0.6–0.7 cm; endocarp markedly sculptured. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Jul–Sep.

Mountain slopes, forest in ravines, forest margins, grassy mountain slopes; 1200--4000 m. Guizhou, Qinghai, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan.