Prunus fasciculata, also known as wild almond, desert almond, or desert peach is a spiny and woody shrub producing wild almonds, native to the deserts of Arizona, California, Baja California, Nevada and Utah.
Prunus fasciculata lives many years (is perennial), and drops its leaves (deciduous). It prefers sandy or rocky soil on dry slopes and washes, usually below 7,000 feet (2,100 m) elevation.
Prunus fasciculata grows up to 2 metres (6 ft 6.7 in) high, exceptionally to 3 metres (9.8 ft), with many horizontal (divaricate) branches, generally with thorns (spinescent), often in thickets. The bark is grey and without hairs (glabrous).
This male has flowers with 10-15 stamens that are clustered with leaves in fascicles.
Branches with smooth grey bark bear clusters of narrow leaves and small flowers. The leaves are 5–20 millimetres (0.2–0.8 in) long, narrow (linear), with a broad, flatten tip that tapers to a narrow base, (spatulate, oblanceolate), arranged on very short leaf stem (petiole) like bundles of needles (fascicles).
Sepals are hairless and without lobes or teeth. The flowers are small and white with 3-mm petals, occurring either solitary or in fascicles and are without a petal stem (subsessile) growing from the leaf axils. They are dioecious. Male flowers have 10-15 stamens; female, one or more pistils. The plant displays numerous fragrant flowers from March to May, which attract the bees that pollinate it. The drupe is about 1 cm long, ovoid, light brown and pubescent with thin flesh.
