Prunus avium

Lore & Background

Prunus avium is a deciduous tree growing to 5–25 meters tall, with a trunk up to 1.5 meters in diameter. Young trees have a straight trunk and symmetrical conical crown, becoming rounded on old trees. The bark is smooth reddish-brown with lenticels on young trees, becoming thick dark blackish-brown and fissured on old trees. Leaves are alternate, simple ovoid-acute, 7–14 cm long, with serrated margins bearing small red glands, and turn orange, pink, or red in autumn. Flowers are produced in early spring in corymbs of two to six, each with five pure white petals and yellowish stamens, pollinated by bees. The fruit is a drupe, bright red to dark purple, containing a single hard-shelled stone.

Reader's Guide

Prunus avium is significant as the main ancestor of cultivated sweet cherries, supplying most commercial edible cherry cultivars worldwide alongside Prunus cerasus. Its timber, cherry wood, is valued for woodturning, cabinets, and musical instruments, and is used for smoking foods. The species is widely cultivated as an ornamental tree, with the double-flowered form 'Plena' receiving the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit in the UK. It is also used in Europe for afforestation of agricultural land and for wildlife and amenity plantings. The fruit has been an item of human food for thousands of years, with stones found in Bronze Age settlements across Europe. The tree exudes a gum from bark wounds that seals them against insects and fungi, and this gum can be chewed as a substitute for chewing gum. Medicine from the stalks is astringent, antitussive, and diuretic. The species has become naturalized in North America, New Zealand, and Australia.

Did You Know?

• The fruit averages 81.8% water, and its dry weight includes 45.1% carbohydrates and 1.8% lipids.
• Prunus avium is thought to be one of the parent species of Prunus cerasus (sour cherry), via ancient crosses with Prunus fruticosa.