Taxonomic reconsideration of Prunusveitchii (Rosaceae)

Prunusveitchii was published in 1912 and was treated as a synonym of P.serrulatavar.pubescens. The information about this taxon is relatively scarce. When consulting specimens of Prunus L., type materials of Prunusveitchii were found to belong to three taxa and P.veitchii, P.concinna, P.japonicavar.zhejiangensis, C.jingningensis and C.xueluoensis were found to be conspecific. The taxonomic status of P.veitchii is reconsidered in the present paper. Morphometric analyses were performed to evaluate the significance of differences between P.veitchii and P.serrulatavar.pubescens. The results show that the leaves of P.veitchii are significantly smaller and narrower than the leaves of P.serrulatavar.pubescens and the peduncle and pedicels are shorter. According to the results of morphometric analyses, P.veitchii should be treated as a separate species. To address these results, a lectotype of P.veitchii is designated here and P.concinna, Cerasusjingningensis and C.xueluoensis are here designated as synonyms of P.veitchii.