How to distinguish between early and late cherry blossoms in Japan

Different tree shapes

The Japanese cherry tree can reach a height of 17 meters, and its bark is gray and striated. The bark of the Japanese evening cherry tree is silver-gray with lip-shaped lenticels and can reach up to 8 meters in height.

Different branches

When the early cherry trees have not yet grown leaves, their bark has horizontal stripes, while the old bark has vertical cracks. The twigs are brown in color, and the lenticels on the trunk are relatively sparse. The bark of the late cherry tree is silver-gray, the new buds are larger, dark brown, and have small and numerous lenticels.

Different leaves

Judging from the size of the leaves, the leaves of early cherry blossoms are smaller than those of late cherry blossoms. In terms of shape, the leaves of Japanese early cherry blossoms are obovate to ovate-lanceolate, while the leaves of late cherry blossoms are mainly elliptical-ovate, oblong to obovate.

Different flower shapes

Early cherry blossoms have 5 single petals, which are oval in shape and mainly white, and the flowers appear to be sparse, while late cherry blossoms have double petals and a large number of flowers. The flower is light pink when not in bloom, and reddish and brighter when in bloom.