Prunus avium
A deciduous tree, ancestor of sour cherry, valued for fruit and timber.
Prunus avium, commonly called wild cherry, sweet cherry or gean, is a species of cherry, a flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is native to western Eurasia and naturalized elsewhere, and is an ancestor of Prunus cerasus (sour cherry). The species is often cultivated as an ornamental tree, and all parts except the ripe fruit are slightly toxic, containing cyanogenic glycosides.
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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.
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