Abstract:Cerasus cerasoides is the only cherry that flowers in winter worldwide. It is mainly distributed in Yunnan Province, China, and has vast market potential. However, introducing these C. cerasoides to the other provinces has not succeeded in recent years. Therefore, the study of the potential introduction areas for C. cerasoides in China is of great importance for introducing and promoting C. cerasoides in landscaping. 275 geographical distribution information of C. cerasoides, 32 environmental variable factors, and contemporary (1970–2000) and future (2021–2070) climate data were collected. Then, the potential introduction areas of C. cerasoides in China under the contemporary and future climatic environments were predicted using the maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) and geographical information system (ArcGIS). Finally, the ROC curve based on the knife-cut method tested the model’s prediction accuracy. The main environmental factors affecting the distribution of potential introduction areas for C. cerasoides were seasonal temperature variation, driest month precipitation, isothermality, and altitude. The predicted model assessment metric (AUC value) was 0.983, indicating high prediction accuracy and reliable results. Under the current climate conditions, the potential suitable area for C. cerasoides is 4.99×105 km2, accounting for 5.42% of the total land area of China. The potential introduction areas are divided into high, medium, and low regions, with respective areas of 2.04×105 km2 (2.21%), 1.23×105 km2 (1.24%), and 1.81×105 km2 (1.96%). The potential introduction areas of C. cerasoides are mainly distributed in China’s southwestern and southern regions. This study would provide a reference for introducing, cultivating, and promoting the regional zoning of C. cerasoides.