Spring returning

Tree #43

Winged burning bush Euonymus alatus (Celastraceae)

This tree (actually a shrub) has winged bark.

Winged burning bush Memphis Botanic Garden Jan. 20, 2014

Other trees with winged bark are winged elms. These plants are in different families so the winged appearance evolved independently. 

This plant is in the Japanese garden not far from the Chinese junipers (tree #29)

Larger view of the winged burning bush with author on the left

Tree #44 weeping Higan cherry (Punus subhirtella 'Pendula')

This early blooming cherry (March 23, 2014) is on the property of the University of Memphis Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI), on Central Ave.

One of the earliest blooming cherries in Memphis

The bark on this tree is very rough and fissured. It is not like Yoshino cherries with banded lines in the relatively smooth bark. The trunk is also multi-branched. 

View of the trunk

A view from below

Closer shot of flowers against blue sky

The Cherries along Cherry Road are not yet blooming and this tree is in full flower. A different  species. Calls to the Earthquake Center for information generated some interest in the tree. Chris McGoldrick contacted University of Memphis former employees and was told the tree is a weeping Higan cherry. I noticed another old tree like this at the southeast corner of Willett and Central, also multi-trunked and early blooming.

Tree # 45 Yoshino cherry (Prunus yedoensis)

Even in Memphis there are many different types of cherry. My wife Susan and I visited the Cherry Road Yoshino cherries on April 4 and took a few pictures. The trunks on these trees are straight with dark lines a circling the trunk, very different from the Higan cherry above.

April 4, peak viewing time for Yoshino cherries in Memphis

Cherry tree in the background with Botanical Garden tulips, April 4, 2014

My son Stephen and his girlfriend Gabbi went to Cherry Road April 7 after the green leaves had begun to show and took some more pictures.

Here is a close up of the blossoms. You can see the green leaves in this shot, so the cherries are past prime viewing time.  Cherries are in the pentapetalae, a large clade of "core eudicots" with five flower petals. Note that the flowers in this picture have begun to lose their petals since most do not have five left. When the wind blows, showers of these white and pink petals rain down out of the trees and coat the ground. 

Yoshino cherries (Prunus yedoensis) April 7, 2014 on Cherry Road, Memphis. See the petals on the ground.

A third type of cherry is double-flowered and blooms later, the Kwanzan cherry (see April comes to Memphis).