Prunus is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs from the family Rosaceae, with about 340 accepted species (as of March 2024) that include peaches and nectarines, apricots, plums, cherries and almonds. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, being native to the temperate regions of North America, the neotropics of South America, and temperate and tropical regions of Eurasia and Africa.

Many members of the genus are widely cultivated for their sweet, fleshy fruit, as well as for decorative purposes due to the colorful seasonal blossom of their flowers. Prunus fruit are drupes, or stone fruits. The fleshy mesocarp surrounding the endocarp is edible while the endocarp itself forms a hard, inedible shell called the pyrena ("stone" or "pit") that encloses the seed (or "kernel"), which is edible in some species (such as almonds) but poisonous in many others (such as apricot kernels). Besides being eaten fresh, most Prunus fruit are also commonly used to make processed foods and beverages such as canned and dried fruit, fruit juices (e.g. cherry and prune juice), jam, gelatine desserts and roasted seeds.

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