Cultivar 55: Ural Mountain

Ural Mountain is a Siberian dwarf cherry. It is placed here under Prunus fruticosa and presented as a cold climate sour cherry, not a standard orchard cherry [S1]. Hansen's bulletin identifies it as a 1938 introduction reference and traces it to the Ural Mountain region of West Siberia, where a dwarf red cherry was being collected under government auspices [S1]. The same entry says selection work was underway at the Experiment Station at Cheliabinsk, linking the cultivar to northern Soviet cherry improvement [S1].

Station observations from 1938 and 1939 describe the fruit as a red sour cherry with clear acid flesh, much like a small Early Richmond, and of good quality [S1]. One selection in this material was reported to be nearly as large as Early Richmond, suggesting that the strain stood out not only for hardiness but also for larger fruit than might be expected from a dwarf bush cherry [S1].

The plant is described as sprouting freely [S1]. This suggests a suckering, bush form typical of this cherry group rather than a single trunk tree. The bulletin gives no detailed record of bearing habit, disease response, storage, or kitchen use beyond the comparison to a sour cherry type [S1].

Its hardiness is the main reason it was singled out. Hansen states plainly that this is a cherry for the far North, where standard sour cherries are not hardy [S1]. Even without a zone rating, that places Ural Mountain in the severe winter setting that shaped prairie and northern Great Plains fruit work [S1].

In the archive, Ural Mountain matters as a named example from the Siberian dwarf cherry pool and from the wider search for edible fruit that could survive where common cherries failed [S1]. The surviving source is brief, but it preserves the main point: a West Siberian cherry, small but promising, brought forward because northern fruit breeding needed sour cherries with real cold endurance [S1].

Summary source basis

• S1: New Hardy Fruits for the Northwest

This summary currently draws chiefly from New Hardy Fruits for the Northwest.

Featured source descriptions

“Adwarf red cherry was being collected there in a large way under government auspices, with selection under way at the Experiment Station at Cheliabinsk.”
— ^[1]

“Indexed entry, likely to Bulletin 339, page 50; the page number is slightly unclear in the scan/OCR.”
— ^[1]

“Listed in the table of contents under 'Siberian Dwarf Cherry.'”
— ^[1]

“This is a cherry for the far North where standard sour cherries are not hardy.”
— ^[1]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• The names given are all from the Siou x Indian language

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• Progress With the Golden Currant The Golden Currant (Ribes odoratu m, Wendl) is a handsome shrub of vigorous growth, with abundant yellow flowers appearing in early spring before the leavesNew Hardy Fruits for the Northwest, p28
• As fruited at the station in 1938 and 1939 the fruit is a red, sour cherry with clear acid flesh much like a small Early Richmond and of good qualityNew Hardy Fruits for the Northwest, p28
• Selection is under way at the Experiment Station at Cheliabinsk; one was brought in nearly as large as the Early Richmond CherryNew Hardy Fruits for the Northwest, p28
• In the Ural Mountain region of West Siberia, a dwarf red cherry is being collected in a large way under government auspicesNew Hardy Fruits for the Northwest, p28

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context