hedge prinsepia

Survives zone 2 through 5

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Small cherry-like drupes, red or purple-black depending on the plant — a close relative of P. sinensis but far less documented for flavor, grown more as a tough, spiny hedging shrub in its cold, arid native range than as a fruit crop. ⚠ Kernels cyanogenic, as with other stone fruit in the rose family.

Hardiness

Zone 2–5

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Summer–autumn

Mature size

Dense spiny shrub 1–2 m

Light

Full sun to partial

Soil pH

6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Northwestern China — Gansu, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Nei Mongol and neighbouring provinces, on dry slopes and in loess-country scrub.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

2–4 yrs

Growth speed

Moderate

Spacing

180 cm (71 in) apart — about 3.2 m² (35 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Alternate, narrow and strap-like, 2–6 cm long, greyish-green, crowded on spiny arching stems.

Root system

Deep and drought-adapted, matching its dry loess-slope habitat; established plants are markedly more drought-tolerant than most Rosaceae shrubs and resent being moved.

Fruit description

Rounded dark red to purple-black drupe 1–1.5 cm, ripening late summer, borne singly — the epithet uniflora refers to the solitary flowers. Acid and juicy over a single stone; used locally for preserves and for seed oil.

Propagation

Seed after cold stratification is the usual route; semi-ripe cuttings root with bottom heat but less reliably.

Pollination

Self-fertile

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.