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Prunus 'Kanzan' Synonym: Sekiyama Less current synonyms: Kwanzan, New Red, Sekizan, (not Hizakura) Description: Tree vase-shaped, later with hanging branches, to 10 m high. Young foliage bronze-brown to bronze-green (RHS 152-A). Serration single and regular. Leaves that have just unfolded have on the serration tiny glands that quickly disappear. Foliage is well developed in the flowering season. Stipules medium to deeply bifurcated depending on the general vigor of the tree, 1220 mm long. Corymbose inflorescence, with three to five flowers. Peduncles 1.53.5 cm long. Pedicels 3.54.5 cm long. Flower in bud pink-red, becoming pink (RHS 73-D) when completely opened. Flower 4.55.0 cm in diameter, fuzzy and curly, with wrinkled petals in the heart. Petals twenty-three to twenty-eight, ovate, sometimes orbicular, usually slightly emarginate at the top, 1923 × 1317 mm. Pistils two, rarely three, phylloid, about 7 mm long, longer than the stamens. At the end of flowering, stamens turn to a slight pink; the filament extends above the anther, extension purplish red(!). The calyx is broad and funnel-shaped, 34 × 4 mm, with a faint purple tinge; there is a distinct transition from pedicel to calyx. Sepals are elongated and triangular, 6.58.0 × 34 mm, with a purple shade, basically unserrated, but a rare tooth can be seen. Occasionally an extra, sixth sepal is found. Flowering season is early May. 'Kanzan' has a diploid set of chromosomes (2n = 16). Kirin (synonym Prunus serrulata f. atrorubra Miyoshi) is named for a mythical, fiery beast, the kylin, that announced the coming of a saint in ancient Japan. In modern Japanese the same word kirin means ''giraffe." The cultivar 'Kirin' is often confused with 'Kanzan' because of Miyoshi's (1916) incomplete comparison of the two. The confusion prevails today and is remarkable, seeing how different the two cultivars are. 'Kirin' is a diploid cherry with unquestionable horticultural merits, for instance, in its brownred young foliage dotted with the reddish-pink and double flowers. It is rarely found, but when seen from a distance, it may be judged as a weaker and less overdone version of 'Kanzan'. For one thing the tree is less vigorous and for another it does not have the typical wine-glass shape of 'Kanzan'. Looking closer at 'Kirin', one can immediately see that it has no relation to 'Kanzan', although the flowers of both are the same color of pink and have the same phylloid pistils. The flowers of 'Kirin' are smaller, however, about