cherries. Wilson (1916) demonstrated concern in the introduction to 

 his book "The Cherries of Japan" when he wrote: 



"I am in the fortunate position of having seen the types or 

 cotypes of all the new species of Japanese cherries proposed by 

 Koehne, and I share Koidzumi's view that not one of them is valid. I 

 have had the pleasure of studying some species of cherries in the 

 field with Mr. Koidzumi and am indebted to him for authentic 

 material of all his species and varieties. I differ from him widely in 

 the acceptance of the rank to which some of his species and 

 varieties are entitled. Nevertheless, Koidzumi's estimate of eleven 

 Japanese species of the subgenus Cerasus and mine of ten species 

 are nearly the same. 



"My investigations in Japan show that five species of cherry 

 produce forms with double flowers, but that nearly all the 

 double-flowered cherries of Japanese gardens are derived from P. 

 serrulata Lindley and P. lannesiana Wilson. Some of these cherries 

 are somewhat intermediate in appearance and it is possible that 

 hybrids exist between these species. There is no actual evidence for 

 or against the theory, but I incline to the belief that the 

 double-flowered cherries have arisen as sports from the parent 

 species and have been perpetuated by the vegetative propagation by 

 the Japanese." 



Clarification Attempts 



Since the early 1900's, several botanists and horticulturists in 

 Japan, Europe, and the United States have attempted to bring 

 taxonomic order to the confusec( nomenclature of cultivated 

 Japanese flowering cherries. Most noteworthy among them are 

 Veitch, "Hortus Veitchii" (1906); Koehne, "Die in Deutschland 

 Eingefuhrten Japanischen Zierkirschen in Mitteilungen des 

 Deutschen Dendrologischen Gesellschaft" (1909); Koidzumi, 

 "Conspectus Rosacearum Japonicarum" (1913); Miyoshi, 

 "Japanische Bergkirschen ihre Wildformen und Kulturrassen" (1916); 

 Wilson, "The Cherries of Japan" (1916); Miyoshi, "Oka gaisetsu" 

 (1921); Russell, "The Oriental Flowering Cherries" (1934); Ingram, 

 "Ornamental Cherries" (1948); Hara, in Ishii's "Engei Daijiten" 

 (1950); Sano, "Sakura" (1961); Makino, "Makino's New Illustrated 

 Flora of Japan" (1963); Ohwi and Ohta, "Flowering Cherries of 

 Japan" (1973); Honda and Hayaski, "Nihon no sakura" (1974); and 

 Gashu, "Sekai no nihonzakura" (1976). 



Four Prunus species were designated by these authors when 

 clarifying the confused taxonomic status of Japanese flowering 

 cherries. The species cited were P. donarium Siebold (Koidzumi, 

 1913; Makino, 1963); P. lannesiana Wilson (Wilson, 1916; Hara, 

 1950; Sano, 1961; Ohwi and Ohta, 1973; Honda and Hayashi, 



