Morello cherry
Morello cherry © Benjamin Gimmel
Prunus cerasus
ID check
- Flowers in clusters of 2–6, with hairless stalks all arising from a central point.
- Leaves glossy above, hairless beneath.
- Leaf margins with blunt or rounded teeth, often tipped with a claw-like gland.
- Leaf stalk hairless.
- Flowers in clusters, with stems arising from a central point.
- Flowers saucer-shaped, more than 20mm across on stalks more than 15mm long.
- Fruit more than 10mm long.
Description
Morello cherry flower © Bogdan Janus, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 License
Tree
Small, up to 6m tall.
Bark
Smooth, dull brown.
Leaves
More or less hairless, margins single- or double-toothed, the teeth ending with a purple gland. Leaf-stalk without glands near the junction with the leaf blade.
Bud scales
Large green bud-scales at the base of each flower cluster.
Flowers
Fully-open flowers are white and 20–25mm across. The sepals form a bell-shaped tube.
Ripe fruit
10–20mm long, red or black, sour-tasting.
Notes
The morello cherry occurs in the wild and is also widely cultivated for its fruit. It is sometimes called the sour cherry and is mainly used for cooking.
There are two varieties of morello cherry. The type commonly known as morello has dark-red to almost black fruit. The other variety, known as amarelle, has lighter red fruit.
Images
Morello cherry flowers.
© Bogdan Janus, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License
Morello cherry fruit.
© Alina Zienowicz, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
Morello fruit.
© Kristian Thy
Morello cherry tree.
© Benjamin Gimmel, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 LicenseDiagrams
These explain some of the important tree and plant parts mentioned on these factsheets.
Flower
Leaf parts
