top of page

Wild Cherry (Prunus avium)

323629014_9b2c971d10_o.jpg

Prunus is a genus of trees and shrubs, including the plums, cherries, peaches, apricots and almonds. It is traditionally placed within the rose family Rosaceae as a subfamily, the Prunoideae (or Amygdaloideae), but sometimes placed in its own family, the Prunaceae (or Amygdalaceae).There are

Kingdom: Plantae

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida

Order: Rosales

Family: Rosaceae

Subfamily: Prunoideae

Genus: Prunus

Subgenus: Cerasus

Species: P. avium

​

several hundred species of Prunus, spread throughout the northern temperate regions of the globe.The plant originated in Eurasia.

 

The Wild Cherry (Prunus avium) is a species of Cherry, native to Europe and western Asia (also known as the Sweet Cherry). It is a species in the subgenus Cerasus. It is the species from which most sweet cherry cultivars are derived and is a deciduous tree growing to 9m to 15m tall attaining an age of up to 200 years. It prefers a sunny position with neutral to calcareous, fertile soils. Found in woods and hedgerows throughout the British Isles except Northern Scotland. Also most of Europe as far as the Urals, cultivated in gardens usually for the profusion of spring flowers. Cultivated cherries are derived from Prunus avium.

​

 Also known as Gean or Mazzard, both obsolete names little used as common names in modern English, though more recently, 'Mazzard' also refers to a selected self fertile cultivar that comes true from seed, which is used as a seedling rootstock for fruiting cultivars. Irish Crann silin. This tree can grow quite large and is not suitable for coppicing, so is not ideal for a small garden. 

​

The wild cherry is a medium-sized, deciduous tree with a very straight trunk. The bark is shiny brown and peels away in horizontal strips. Sometimes grown for it's reddish brown timber which is used for turnery products, furniture, veneers, decorative panelling and pipes. Good firewood with fragrance of blossom as burns. The mid green simple leaves are lanceolate (elliptical in shape tapering to point}, 5-12cm (2-5in) long, alternate with a doubly serrated edge and have long forward pointing teeth, on long crimson stalks and having two small glands at base of the blade. In autumn they turn a mosaic of vivid reds and yellows, orange, crimson and purple.

​

The masses of snow white blossom appear before the leaves, in March or April.The flowers are usually white to pink, with five petals and five sepals. They are borne in corymbs, singly, or in umbels of two to six or more on racemes.

 

A corymb is similar to a panicle with the same branching structure, but with the lower flowers having longer stems, thus giving a flattish top superficially resembling an umbel. Many species in the Maloideae, such as hawthorns and rowans, produce their flowers in corymbs.

​

Clusters of fleshy, small cherries are produced in July, ripening from green through red to black by midsummer, variably sweet to somewhat astringent and bitter to eat fresh, with a large pit or stone 1-3cm (0.5-1.2in) in diameter. They provide food for a variety of birds, including the rare and elusive hawfinch which can actually crush the stones with its massive bill. Birds find the fruit especially palatable quickly stripping whole trees of their fruit. The fruit are edible both raw and cooked, but the leaves, twigs and seeds are highly poisonous yielding cyanogenic glycosides which can lead to spasms, convulsions and respiratory failure.

​

​

Cultivated cherries derived from Prunus avium. Prefers non acidic rich soils. Grown from seed but can be grown from cuttings when taken from young trees. Deeply dormant treat as Acer campestre but start treatment as soon as collected for planting following April. Approx 4000 seeds per kg. Cherry tree is rustic, suitable to every area. Give it a sunny spot, not too windy and avoid North orientations or cold winter places. Flowers organs are destroyed under 26°F. To be successful with your cherry trees don’t plant them above 3300 feet of altitude.

 

 Plantation, repotting : autumn
Multiplication processing : cutting
Cut : Cherry trees don’t like to be cut (as every other stone fruit trees) because the smallest cut weaken the tree. During the first years, cut the main branches to their 2/3 so that they don’t grow straight and high. Perform those cuts by late August or September and cover the wounds with healing products. 

 Illness and harmful insects : cherry fly, aphids. Spray some healing products after the cut or after the leaves felt down to avoid any winter illnesses.
 

There are many cultivars and imported relatives, some with very large, showy blossoms and others producing very good cherries for eating. The Latin name is derived from Prunus or plum and avium, from the Latin avis or bird who feast on the ripe fruit. The Prunus genus has about 400 species, most of them native to the Northern Hemisphere. Two species of cherry are native to Britain, the Wild Cherry having a high timber value is fast growing. The second, Bird Cherry - Prunus padus - is smaller, doing best on wetter acid soils. Wild cherry has a distinctive smooth bark, reddish or purple-brown in colour with a metallic copper sheen. It is punctuated with large lenticels or breathing pores in bands around the trunk which often peel in small thin strips. In the wild, root suckers often develop around mature trees and eventually grow as large as the parents, forming clumps or small woodlands. Increasingly planted as a timber tree, it is easy to establish and for a broad leaved tree it has a relatively short rotation or growing life and may become senile by 60. Cherries are prone to bacterial canker where stem and branch wounds may exude a clear, protective gum reminiscent of resin in conifers but without the smell. Cherries grown for fruit are derived from two species, P. avium for it's sweetness and P. cerasus the more acid Morello variety. Eating varieties are usually grafted onto wild cherry root stocks. Parts of this plant are poisonous.

​

 Feeding and other inter-species relationships Associated with Prunus avium:

 

  • fruit may contain larva Rhagoletis cerasi - a gall fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)   White, I.M., 1988 

 

  • leaf is galled by Taphrina cerasi (Taphrinales)  Stubbs, F.B. (Editor), 1986 

 

  • stem is galled by Taphrina cerasi (Taphrinales)  Stubbs, F.B. (Editor), 1986 

 

 Prunus species are used as food plants by the larvae of a large number of Lepidoptera species including:

 

 Monophagous species which feed exclusively on Prunus

  • Bucculatrix copeuta - feeds on Prunus pensylvanica 

  • Coleophora case-bearers: 

  • C. adjectella - feeds on P. spinosa 

  • C. amygdalina 

  • C. demissella - feeds on P. virginiana 

  • C. lapidicornis 

  • C. prunifoliae - feeds on P. spinosa 

  • C. umbratica 

 

 Polyphagous species which feed on Prunus among other plants

  • Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa) 

  • Autumnal Moth (Epirrita autumnata) 

  • The Brick (Agrochola circellaris) - recorded on Bird Cherry 

  • Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata) 

  • Brown-tail (Euproctis chrysorrhoea) 

  • Bucculatrix pomifoliella 

  • Buff-tip (Phalera bucephala) 

  • Coleophora case-bearers: 

  • C. anatipennella 

  • C. atlantica 

  • C. atromarginata 

  • C. badiipennella 

  • C. cerasivorella 

  • C. coracipennella 

  • C. hemerobiella 

  • C. laticornella - recorded on P. americana 

  • C. lineapulvella 

  • C. malivorella 

  • C. nigricella 

  • C. palliatella 

  • C. paripennella 

  • C. pruniella 

  • C. sacramenta 

  • C. spinella 

  • Common Emerald (Hemithea aestivaria) 

  • Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata) - recorded on Bird Cherry 

  • Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 

  • Coxcomb Prominent (Ptilodon capucina) - recorded on Bird Cherry 

  • Dark Dagger (Acronicta tridens) 

  • Dot Moth (Melanchra persicariae) - recorded on Bird Cherry 

  • Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria) 

  • Double Square-spot (Xestia triangulum) - recorded on Blackthorn 

  • The Dun-bar (Cosmia trapezina) 

  • Emperor Moth (Pavonia pavonia) 

  • The Engrailed (Ectropis crepuscularia) 

  • Feathered Thorn (Colotois pennaria) 

  • The Gothic (Naenia typica) 

  • Green Pug (Chloroclystis rectangulata) 

  • Grey Dagger (Acronicta psi) 

  • Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 

  • Hypercompe indecisa 

  • IO moth (Automeris io) 

  • Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (Noctua janthina) - recorded on Blackthorn 

  • Lesser Yellow Underwing (Noctua comes) - recorded on Blackthorn 

  • Light brown apple moth (Epiphyas postvittana) 

  • Light Emerald (Campaea margaritata) 

  • Lime Hawk-moth (Mimas tiliae) 

  • Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata) 

  • Mottled Umber (Erannis defoliaria) 

  • Mouse Moth (Amphipyra tragopoginis) 

  • November Moth (Epirrita dilutata) 

  • Pale November Moth (Epirrita christyi) 

  • Purple Thorn (Selenia tetralunaria) 

  • The Satellite (Eupsilia transversa) 

  • Scalloped Hazel (Odontopera bidentata) - recorded on Bird Cherry 

  • Scalloped Oak (Crocallis elinguaria) - recorded on Bird Cherry 

  • Short-cloaked Moth (Nola cucullatella) 

  • Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) 

  • Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata) 

  • Yellow-tail (Euproctis similis) 

​

​

bottom of page