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Prunus nipponica; photograph (c) Yoshimasa Uchiyama, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Yoshimasa Uchiyama, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2018-06-16

Prunus nipponica Matsum.

Japanese Alpine Cherry; Kurile cherry

Rosaceae · Kuril Is., Sakhalin +1 · listed by its genus as a temperate garden plant

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Prunus nipponica, photograph Salvör Gissurardóttir, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsPrunus nipponica, photograph Salvör Gissurardóttir, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsPrunus nipponica, photograph Salvör Gissurardóttir, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsPrunus nipponica, photograph Σ64, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPrunus nipponica, photograph Alpsdake, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsPrunus nipponica, photograph Σ64, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 13 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-14.8°C
Record low -20.0 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
22°C
Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,028mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
13–34DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to November, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Prunus nipponica, also called Japanese alpine cherry (高嶺桜, Takanezakura) or Kurile cherry, is a shrub which originates from the islands of Hokkaido and Honshu, Japan. It grows to a height of about 5 meters (16 ft) and can grow in sandy, loamy, and clay soils.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Prunus nipponica", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Prunus

Prunus is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs from the rose family (Rosaceae) that produce stone fruits, or drupes. As of March 2024, the genus has about 340 accepted species, including almonds, apricots, cherries, peaches, and plums. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, being native to the temperate regions of North America, the neotropics of South America, and temperate and tropical regions of Eurasia and Africa.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Prunus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a temperate garden plant, listed under the genus Prunus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “shrub or tree”, “temperate”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,477 mm of 2,056 mm) falls in May to November, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 12.6 °C against a yearly mean of 6.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to May.

Rain

2,056 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,477 mm of it May to November. Wettest month September at 278 mm, driest month February at 98 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,399 mm to 3,287 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,028 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,056 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 34 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 36).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -14.8 °C, the absolute minimum -20.0 °C, 7,517 frost nights in 44 years, 170.8 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 26.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -11.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -15.1 °C to -7.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 22.3 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -14.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +851 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Prunus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “shrub or tree”, “temperate”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Prunus nipponica through the yearWarmest month August, mean daily high 22 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -11.8 °C; 2,056 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°frost26.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-20.0° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 13–34RH 60–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 86 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-4 / -7–0-3 / -6–11 / -2–58 / 5–1214 / 10–1717 / 14–2121 / 18–2422 / 19–2618 / 15–2212 / 9–166 / 3–9-1 / -4–3
Night °C-12 / -15–-7-11 / -14–-7-7 / -10–-4-1 / -4–25 / 2–810 / 7–1314 / 11–1716 / 12–1812 / 9–145 / 2–8-2 / -5–2-8 / -11–-4
Rain mm104 / 56–19198 / 57–157131 / 87–213132 / 89–215167 / 109–251208 / 94–299258 / 146–425228 / 159–398278 / 193–366196 / 131–274142 / 82–276114 / 48–234
DLI15 / 10–2021 / 17–2527 / 25–3033 / 30–3534 / 32–3631 / 29–3630 / 27–3329 / 27–3223 / 21–2620 / 18–2215 / 11–1813 / 8–17
RH %64 / 57–7163 / 57–6961 / 57–6560 / 57–6261 / 58–6465 / 62–6968 / 65–7268 / 64–7166 / 64–6963 / 60–6662 / 58–6763 / 56–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 86 grid cells holding the 107 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1092:6373 (35.375, 138.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -20.0 °C, 1st-percentile night -14.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 26.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 86 distinct grid cells holding 107 of the 107 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1092:6373 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 35.50_138.750, lapse-corrected +851 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1583 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeKuril Is., Sakhalin, Japan · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker36.446, 138.418 · in the densest population, 339 records (51% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 660 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 107 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 618 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2 km away. 8 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 553 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 660 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Prunus nipponica, photograph 1did not loadPrunus nipponica, photograph 2did not loadPrunus nipponica, photograph 3did not loadPrunus nipponica, photograph 4did not loadPrunus nipponica, photograph 5did not loadPrunus nipponica, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Salvör Gissurardóttir, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (3); Σ64, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Alpsdake, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Σ64, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Rhododendron pentandrum Rhododendron pentandrum Ericaceae Photo: CC BY, Andreas TaegerIlex rugosa Ilex rugosa Tsuru holly Photo: CC BY, Pavel SmirnovLilium medeoloides Lilium medeoloides Wheel lily Photo: CC BY-SA, LukeRhododendron brachycarpum Rhododendron brachycarpum Short-fruit rosebay Photo: CC BY, Timur KalininskyVeratrum stamineum Veratrum stamineum Melanthiaceae Photo: CC BY, Timur KalininskyAletris foliata Aletris foliata Nartheciaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Luke

Other Prunus 125 in the reference

Prunus africana Prunus africana African cherry Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony Rebelo Prunus alaica Rosaceae Prunus americana Prunus americana American plum Photo: CC BY, Tom NortonPrunus amygdalus Prunus amygdalus Almond Photo: CC BY-SA, Ken YoungPrunus andersonii Prunus andersonii Desert peach Photo: CC BY, Tom WainwrightPrunus angustifolia Prunus angustifolia Cherokee plum Photo: CC0, author not stated Prunus apetala Taiwan cherry Prunus armeniaca Prunus armeniaca Apricot Photo: CC BY, Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）Prunus avium Prunus avium Wild cherry Photo: CC0, author not statedPrunus bifrons Prunus bifrons Rosaceae Photo: CC0, Andreas Manz Prunus brachypetala Kurdish mountain cherry Prunus brachystachya Rosaceae all 126 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Cerasus nipponica; Prunus iwagiensis; Prunus nipponica f. magna; Prunus nipponica var. iwagiensis. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Rosaceae
Described by
Matsum.
Native to
Kuril Is., Sakhalin, Japan
Wild records
660 in range · 618 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 15 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (12 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 3 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 35.50_138.750, lapse-corrected +851 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 58 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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