The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in Prunus subgenus Cerasus. "Sakura" usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of Prunus serrulata, not trees grown for their fruit. Cherry blossoms have been described as having a vanilla-like smell, which is mainly attributed to coumarin.
Cherry blossom tree in Yachounomori Garden, Tatebayashi, Gunma, Japan
Prunus speciosa (Oshima cherry), a species of cherry tree that has given rise to many cultivars
Prunus serrulata 'Kanzan' or 'Sekiyama', one of the most popular cherry tree cultivars in Europe and North America, selected for the British Award of Garden Merit
Woodblock print of Mount Fuji and cherry blossom from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji by Hiroshige. 1858.
Prunus is a genus of trees and shrubs in the flowering plant family Rosaceae that includes plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, being native to the North American temperate regions, the neotropics of South America, and temperate and tropical regions of Asia and Africa, There are 340 accepted species. Many members of the genus are widely cultivated for their fruit and for decorative purposes. Prunus fruit are drupes, or stone fruits. The fleshy mesocarp surrounding the endocarp is edible while the endocarp itself forms a hard, inedible shell called the pyrena. This shell encloses the seed, which is edible in some species, but poisonous in many others. Besides being eaten off the hand, most Prunus fruit are also commonly used in processing, such as jam production, canning, drying, and the seeds for roasting.
Prunus
'Kanzan' Cherry tree in full bloom in April in Virginia, USA.
View of the inner canopy of Kanzan Cherry during full bloom.
Japanese cherry (Prunus serrulata) blossoms