Small tree to 10 m; lvs lanceolate or lance-oblong, 8-15 cm; fls solitary, sessile or subsessile, usually pink and ca 3 cm wide, sometimes much smaller and nearly red, appearing in early spring before the lvs; fr subglobose, velvety, to 10 cm thick in cult. plants, usually much smaller and hard in wild plants; stone compressed, deeply pitted; 2n=16. Native of China, occasionally escaped from cult. especially southward.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
