Wild cherry

Appearance

"Prunus avium" is a deciduous tree growing to 15–32 m tall, with a trunk up to 1.5 m in diameter. Young trees show strong apical dominance with a straight trunk and symmetrical conical crown, becoming rounded to irregular on old trees. The bark is smooth purplish-brown with prominent horizontal grey-brown lenticels on young trees, becoming thick dark blackish-brown and fissured on old trees. The leaves are alternate, simple ovoid-acute, 7–14 cm long and 4–7 cm broad, glabrous matt or sub-shiny green above, variably finely downy beneath, with a serrated margin and an acuminate tip, with a green or reddish petiole 2–3.5 cm long bearing two to five small red glands.

The tip of each serrated edge of the leaves also bear small red glands. In autumn, the leaves turn orange, pink or red before falling. The flowers are produced in early spring at the same time as the new leaves, borne in corymbs of two to six together, each flower pendent on a 2–5 cm peduncle, 2.5–3.5 cm in diameter, with five pure white petals, yellowish stamens, and a superior ovary; they are hermaphroditic, and pollinated by bees. The fruit is a drupe 1–2 cm in diameter, bright red to dark purple when mature in midsummer, edible, variably sweet to somewhat astringent and bitter to eat fresh. Each fruit contains a single hard-shelled stone 8–12 mm long, 7–10 mm wide and 6–8 mm thick, grooved along the flattest edge; the seed inside the stone is 6–8 mm long.

The fruit are readily eaten by numerous kinds of birds and mammals, which digest the fruit flesh and disperse the seeds in their droppings. Some rodents, and a few birds, also crack open the stones to eat the kernel inside. All parts of the plant except for the ripe fruit are slightly toxic, containing cyanogenic glycosides.

The tree exudes a gum from wounds in the bark, by which it seals the wounds to exclude insects and fungal infections.

Naming

It is often cultivated as a flowering tree. Because of the size of the tree, it is often used in parkland, and less often as a street or garden tree. The double-flowered form, 'Plena', is commonly found, rather than the wild single-flowered forms.

Two interspecific hybrids, "P. x schmittii" and "P. x fontenesiana" are also grown as ornamental trees."Prunus avium" is thought to be one of the parent species of "Prunus cerasus" by way of ancient crosses between it and "Prunus fruticosa" in the areas where the two species overlap. All three species can breed with each other.
"Prunus cerasus" is now a species in its own right having developed beyond a hybrid and stabilised.

Evolution

Pliny distinguishes between "Prunus", the plum fruit, and "Cerasus", the cherry fruit. Already in Pliny quite a number of cultivars are cited, some possibly species or varieties, Aproniana, Lutatia, Caeciliana, and so on. Pliny grades them by flavour, including dulcis and acer.

He goes so far as to say that before the Roman consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus defeated Mithridates in 74 BC, "Cerasia... non fuere in Italia", "There were no cherry trees in Italy". According to him, Lucullus brought them in from Pontus and in the 120 years since that time they had spread across Europe to Britain.

Although cultivated / domesticated varieties of "Prunus avium" didn’t exist in Britain or much of Europe, the tree in its wild state is native to most of Europe, including Britain. Evidence of consumption of the wild fruits has been found as far back as the Bronze Age at a Crannog in County Offaly, in Ireland.

Seeds of a number of cherry species have however been found in Bronze Age and Roman archaeological sites throughout Europe. The reference to "sweet" and "sour" supports the modern view that "sweet" was "Prunus avium"; there are no other candidates among the cherries found. In 1882 Alphonse de Candolle pointed out that seeds of "Prunus avium" were found in the Terramare culture of north Italy and over the layers of the Swiss pile dwellings. Of Pliny's statement he says :
Since this error is perpetuated by its incessant repetition in classical schools, it must once more be said that cherry trees existed in Italy before Lucullus, and that the famous gourmet did not need to go far to seek the species with the sour or bitter fruit.
De Candolle suggests that what Lucullus brought back was a particular cultivar of "Prunus avium" from the Caucasus. The origin of cultivars of "P. avium" is still an open question. Modern cultivated cherries differ from wild ones in having larger fruit, 2–3 cm diameter. The trees are often grown on dwarfing rootstocks to keep them smaller for easier harvesting.

Uses

The gum from bark wounds is aromatic and can be chewed as a substitute for chewing gum.

Medicine can be prepared from the stalks of the drupes that is astringent, antitussive, and diuretic.

A green dye can also be prepared from the plant.

Cultural

Pliny distinguishes between "Prunus", the plum fruit, and "Cerasus", the cherry fruit. Already in Pliny quite a number of cultivars are cited, some possibly species or varieties, Aproniana, Lutatia, Caeciliana, and so on. Pliny grades them by flavour, including dulcis and acer.

He goes so far as to say that before the Roman consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus defeated Mithridates in 74 BC, "Cerasia... non fuere in Italia", "There were no cherry trees in Italy". According to him, Lucullus brought them in from Pontus and in the 120 years since that time they had spread across Europe to Britain.

Although cultivated / domesticated varieties of "Prunus avium" didn’t exist in Britain or much of Europe, the tree in its wild state is native to most of Europe, including Britain. Evidence of consumption of the wild fruits has been found as far back as the Bronze Age at a Crannog in County Offaly, in Ireland.

Seeds of a number of cherry species have however been found in Bronze Age and Roman archaeological sites throughout Europe. The reference to "sweet" and "sour" supports the modern view that "sweet" was "Prunus avium"; there are no other candidates among the cherries found. In 1882 Alphonse de Candolle pointed out that seeds of "Prunus avium" were found in the Terramare culture of north Italy and over the layers of the Swiss pile dwellings. Of Pliny's statement he says :
Since this error is perpetuated by its incessant repetition in classical schools, it must once more be said that cherry trees existed in Italy before Lucullus, and that the famous gourmet did not need to go far to seek the species with the sour or bitter fruit.
De Candolle suggests that what Lucullus brought back was a particular cultivar of "Prunus avium" from the Caucasus. The origin of cultivars of "P. avium" is still an open question. Modern cultivated cherries differ from wild ones in having larger fruit, 2–3 cm diameter. The trees are often grown on dwarfing rootstocks to keep them smaller for easier harvesting.