Cherry

Where it grows

The wild sweet cherry (Prunus avium) is native to Europe, the Caucasus, and northern Anatolia, while the related ornamental Japanese cherries belong to several species centred on East Asia. Cherries flower in the cool spring of temperate climates and prefer free-draining loams.

How to recognise it

Cherry trees have smooth, banded, often peeling grey bark with prominent horizontal lenticels. The simple toothed oval leaves often have two small reddish nectar glands on the stalk. White or pinkish five-petalled blossoms appear in tight clusters before or with the leaves, followed by red to almost black single-seeded drupes.

Uses

Sweet cherries are eaten fresh and dried, while sour cherries (Prunus cerasus) go into pies, preserves, and the Black Forest gateau. Maraschino and kirsch liqueurs are distilled from cherries. The fine reddish-brown heartwood is a premium cabinet timber.

In culture

Japan’s annual hanami cherry-blossom viewing celebrates the fleeting beauty of the petals as a metaphor for human life. The blossoms also bloom along Washington DC’s Tidal Basin, a 1912 gift from Tokyo.