Index / Search / Prunus pumila var. besseyi

§1 Plant

Prunus pumila L. var. besseyi (L.H. Bailey) Gleason

vernacular western sandcherry — variety · Rosaceae


USDA
PRPUB
GBIF
7514878
Rank
variety
western sandcherry (Prunus pumila var. besseyi)
Platephotograph · Joe WalewskiCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Shrub
Duration
Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Rosaceae Juss.
Genus
Prunus
§2a

Native status, by region

  • CAN Canada Native
  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 131 counties across 9 states/territories
Legend Native · 131 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Low
Shade
High
Moisture use
Medium
Fire
Medium
Salinity
Low
Anaerobic
None
CaCO₃
High
Hedging
Low
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-38 °F minimum
Frost-free days
100 min.
Precipitation
12–24 in/yr
pH range
5.3–7.5
Root depth
20 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Multiple Stem
Growth rate
Moderate
Lifespan
Moderate
Mature height
3 ft
Height @ 20 y
3 ft
Foliage texture
Medium
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Dense
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
White
Fruit colour
Black
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Early Spring
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
Yes
Seeds / lb
2,400
Propagation
seed, bare root, container
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
Yes
Browse palatability
Medium
Graze palatability
Low
Palatable, human
Yes
Protein potential
Low
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 131 counties across 9 states/territories.

Arkansas view state ↗ 1 N
Colorado view state ↗ 10 N
Iowa view state ↗ 1 N
Kansas view state ↗ 16 N
Minnesota view state ↗ 15 N
Montana view state ↗ 1 N
Nebraska view state ↗ 40 N
North Dakota view state ↗ 25 N
South Dakota view state ↗ 22 N

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/PRPUB ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/7514878 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T11:35:19Z