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Prunus 'Shogetsu' Less current synonyms: 'Shimidsu-zakura', 'Superba', (not 'Miyako', not 'Oku-miyako') Description: Tree umbrella-shaped, making a globular crown, somewhat flattened at the top, to 5 m high. Young foliage green (RHS 144-A), well developed in the flowering season. Serration double or single, with awn-tipped teeth, without glands. Stipules deeply bifurcated, 1217 mm long. Corymbose inflorescence, with four to six flowers. Peduncles 36 cm long. Pedicels 3.55.0 cm long. Corymb to 15 cm long(!). Flower in bud light pink, becoming pure white when completely opened. Flower 4.55.0 cm in diameter, fuzzy and curly, usually open in the heart. Petals twenty-two to twenty-five (sometimes as few as twenty and as many as twenty-eight), oval, obovate, emarginate and slightly notched at the top, 1921 × 1217 mm, with folds. The flowers that open first usually have more petals. A few petaloids. Pistils two, rarely three, phylloid, 56 mm long, as long as or longer than the longest stamens. The calyx is wide and funnel-shaped, 34 × 34 mm, short(!); there is an indistinct transition from pedicel to calyx. Sepals are 78 × 45 mm, green, usually clearly serrated. Flowering season is from early to late May. 'Shogetsu' has a diploid set of chromosomes (2n = 16). 'Shujaku' Shujaku is the name of a mythical phoenix, the fire bird, one of the four gods of the FarEastern compass. According to diviners of ancient times, the fire bird Shujaku guarded the south. Three other gods guarded the east, west, and north. With the founding of in the eighth century, the southern gate of its imperial palace became the gate of Shujaku, and the wide avenue that led from it to the south was called Shujaku Avenue. In the natural sciences of that time, the southern direction of the fire bird Shujaku related to the sun and associated with the color red. An old word for red ink is shu, written with the same Chinese character as in the bird's name. Thus, this cherry was named for the color of its blossom, which, though not exactly fire-red, is most characteristic and unique among the cultivars of Prunus serrulata. The cherry 'Shujaku' appears from about the 1830s in lists of Japanese cherry collections and is today rather well known in its homeland. It was offered for export in the 1930s by the Hakoneya nursery (Wada 1937).