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Key to Prunus, Key A: BLACK-CHERRIES, subgenus Padus

Rosaceae

Prunus

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1 Leaves evergreen, entire or serrate with few or rather many (but widely spaced) prominent teeth; petioles lacking 2 glands near junction with leaf blade.
  2 Central axes of racemes (35-) 55-130 mm long; petals 3-5 mm long; drupes 13-17 mm in diameter; [exotic, rarely naturalizing from plantings]
  2 Central axes of racemes 13-50 mm long; petals 1-1.5 mm long; drupes 8-12 mm in diameter; [collectively native in maritime situations from e. NC southwards to s. FL and west to TX, but also cultivated and escaped inland]
    3 Pedicels 1-4 mm long; central axes of racemes 13-30 (-43) mm long; flowering Feb-May; leaf blades usually > 2× as long as wide; [more widespread, but not in s. FL]
    3 Pedicels (2-) 3-6 mm long; central axes of racemes (11-) 20-50 mm long; flowering Nov-Jan; leaf blades usually < 2× as long as wide; [of s. FL]
1 Leaves deciduous, regularly and rather finely toothed; petioles with 2 glands near the junction with the leaf blade.
      4 Petals 6-10 mm long (longer than the stamens); hypanthium pubescent within; stone sculptured; [exotic, rarely naturalizing]
      4 Petals 4-7 mm long; hypanthium glabrous within; stone smooth; [native].
        5 Leaf teeth triangular, pointing outward; leaves dull above; sepals conspicuously glandular-eroded on the margin, not persistent on the fruit; colonial, thicket-forming shrub from rhizomes; [montane in our area]
        5 Leaf teeth curved, appressed; leaves shiny above; sepals entire or slightly glandular-eroded on the margin, persistent on the fruit; small to large tree, not clonal; [collectively widespread].
          6 Leaves mostly 1.5-2× as long as wide, often blunt-tipped (except in shoot leaves); lower leaf surface rather uniformly pubescent, the midrib lacking conspicuous tufts or fringes; branchlets reddish hairy
          6 Leaves mostly 2-2.5× as long as wide, slightly acuminate; lower leaf surface glabrous except for (in var. serotina) tufts or fringes along the midrib; branchlets glabrous.
             7 Leaf margins coarsely serrate (ca. 5 teeth per cm); petioles of leaves subtending inflorescences ca. 15 mm long; leaf undersurface glabrous; [Edwards Plateau of c. TX, extending slightly into the TX Coastal Plain]
             7 Leaf margins finely serrate (ca. 7 teeth per cm); leaf undersurface usually with a fringe of reddish hairs along the lower midvein; [widespread in our region]