The 2012 ASHS Annual Conference

Flowering cherries belong to the genus Prunus L., consisting primarily of species native to Asia. Despite the popularity of ornamental cherry trees in the landscape, most ornamental Prunus planted in the U.S. are derived from a limited genetic base of Japanese flowering cherry taxa. A diverse collection of ornamental Prunus germplasm is maintained at the U.S. National Arboretum as part of an ongoing flowering cherry improvement program aimed at broadening the genetic base of cultivated ornamental cherries by developing new cultivars with disease and pest resistance, tolerance to environmental stresses, and superior ornamental characteristics. Controlled crosses carried out over the past 30 years have resulted in the creation of interspecific hybrids among many of these diverse taxa. We used SSR markers to verify over 100 hybrids created from over 35 parental taxa.