Kushima-Zakura Cherry Blossoms

Kushima-Zakura Cherry Blossoms

The Kushima-zakura cherry tree flowers are double-petaled, and about half of the flowers on a single tree bloom in two stages, with a small, inner flower that opens a few days after the outer petals.
Initially when a number of the blossoms on a cherry tree in the grounds of Omura Shrine were examined, they were thought to be an anomaly.
They were soon identified as an entirely new variety, subsequently named Kushima-zakura (Cerasus serrulata ‘Kusimana’).

The double-petaled blossoms of the Kushima-zakura cherry tree are around twice the size of the five-petal blooms of the Somei Yoshino, Japan’s most common cherry variety.
Each flower typically has 45 petals and reaches a diameter of 4.5 centimeters at full bloom.
The Kushima-zakura was first formally identified in 1947 by Toyama Saburo (1902–1986), a schoolteacher and botanist, on the grounds of Omura Shrine within Omura Park.
Toyama had also identified the Omura-zakura (Cerasus serrulata ‘Mirabilis’) variety of cherry blossom six years earlier.
Both cherry trees have double-petaled blossoms, and are considered mutations of Sato-zakura, a double-petaled cultivar group of cherries.

There are around 200 Kushima-zakura trees in Omura Park that were cultivated from the tree that Toyama identified.
They typically bloom between early and mid-April.
The park hosts a cherry blossom viewing festival between late March and late April each year.
The Kushima-zakura is a Natural Monument of Nagasaki Prefecture.