[3][4][5][6][7] Prunus fruticosa is native to central and southeastern Europe, Ukraine, European Russia, the northern Caucasus, Kazakhstan, and the Altai.

[citation needed] The flowers are white hermaphroditic blossoms in leafy bracts located 2-4 each on short peduncles in sessile umbels.

The shrub's network of penetrating roots are useful for soil stabilization in designed landscapes and habitat restoration projects.

It was first authoritatively defined by Peter Simon Pallas, the German naturalist invited by Catherine the Great to work in St. Petersburg.

His unfinished Flora Rossica, a description of all the plants in the Russian Empire, dedicates one page to Prunus fruticosa, a shrub found in campis Isetensibus, "in the plains of the Iset;" that is, the Siberian steppe.

The last paragraph of Page 19 states his reasons for the classification, which have nothing to do with the name, but are in true Linnaean cryptic form, in this case a pun.

However, Pallas says Haec mihi tantum fructibus suis innotuit, qui distinctam itidem speciem indicare videntur, "It came to my attention at last because of its fruit, which repeatedly seemed to indicate a distinct species."

The fruit seemed fere Pruni forma, "nearly in the form of Prunus", especially because praedita oblongo nucleo, "furnished with an oblong seed."