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with all the flowers bound with threads tightly to each other. This compact blooming poses a problem in wet springs. In these growing conditions, 'Ito-kukuri' might suffer from brown rot, a brownish withering of the flowers that may affect the twigs and show up the following year as cancerous spots on the branches. A few petals occasionally remain stuck in the calyx. Just before opening, the flower buds are a little inflated, somewhat spherical, and about 12 mm long. The unfolding foliage is yellowish green to bronze-green, closely resembling 'Edo-zakura', 'Okiku-zakura', and 'Yokihi'. The cherry specialist Mr. Masatoshi Asari in the Matsumae region of
Figure 131 'Ito-kukuri', the short flower stalks and the large number of flowers per corymb, make them compete for space. Photo by author, 13 April 1997, Yuki * Experimental Station of the Flower Association of Japan, Ibaraki Prefecture.