Wild cherry
Wild cherry © böhringer friedrich
Prunus avium
ID check
- Flowers in clusters of 2–6, with hairless stalks all arising from a central point.
- Flowers cup-shaped, more than 20mm across on stalks more than 15mm long.
- Bud scales persisting at base of flower stalks.
- Leaves dull above, sparsely hairy beneath.
- Leaf margins with blunt or rounded teeth, often tipped with a claw-like gland.
- Leaf stalk hairless.
- Fruit more than 10mm long, on stalks 20mm or more long.
Description
Wild cherry tree © Robert Vidéki, Doronicum Kft. Bugwood.org
Tree
Up to 25m tall.
Bark
Greyish.
Leaves
Margins double-toothed, the teeth ending with a purple gland, hairy at least on the veins beneath; leaf stalk with several wart-like red glands near the junction with the blade.
Bud scales
Large brown bud scales at the base of each flower cluster.
Flowers
Fully-open flowers are 25–35mm across, shallowly cup-shaped, white, and in some cultivars double. The sepals form an urn-shaped tube constricted just below the mouth.
Ripe fruit
10-20mm long, blackish or yellowish-red, sweet or sour-tasting.
Notes
The wild cherry is a common woodland tree but is also often planted. The fruit is edible. The cultivated sweet or dessert cherries are derived from wild cherry.
Images
Wild cherry fruit.
© Bob Press
Wild cherry flowers.
© Bob Press
Wild cherry stalk with red glands.
© André Abrahami, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic
Wild cherry flowers.
© Böhringer Friedrich, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 GenericDiagrams
These explain some of the important tree and plant parts mentioned on these factsheets.
Flower
Leaf parts
