Burke: Prunus americana vs. Prunus avium

	Prunus americana	Prunus avium
	American plum, wild plum	sweet cherry
Habit	Shrub or small tree, 1-10 m. tall, some of the branches sharp-pointed, the bark deep brownish-purple.	Deciduous tree with peeling red-brown bark, to 25 m. tall.
Leaves	Leaves alternate, deciduous, the petioles stout, pubescent, 5-12 mm. long, the blades lanceolate to elliptic, acuminate, acute at the base, serrate, glabrous, often hairy beneath, 4-10 cm. long.	Leaves alternate, oval and pointed, finely serrate, green above and somewhat downy beneath, with 2 conspicuous red glands at the top of the petiole.
Flowers	Flowers 2-4 in umbels, the pedicels slender; calyx reddish tinged, the 5 lobes 2.5-3.5 mm. long, about equal to the tube, pubescent on the upper surface, oblong-lanceolate, serrulate; petals 5, white, elliptic-oblong, 7-9 mm. long; stamens about 25; pistil 1, simple.	Inflorescence a loose cluster of 2-6 flowers; petals 5, white, up to 15 mm. long; stamens 20-30; pistil 1.
Fruits	Drupe orange to purplish-red, the flesh yellow, 1.8-2.5 cm. long.	Fruit a drupe, globose, yellow, becoming dark red, strongly acid.

	Prunus americana	Prunus avium
Flowering time	April-May	April-May
Habitat	Along watercourses, and on open or wooded, moist or dry areas from the plains into the lower mountains.	Forest edges, fields, wastelots, and other disturbed areas.
Distribution	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in southcentral and southeastern Washington; Washington to Oregon, east to the Rocky Mountains, and further east across North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington, though distributed widely throughout the state; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains, also in eastern North America. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native and introduced from further east of Washington	Introduced from Eurasia
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	P. armeniaca, P. avium, P. cerasifera, P. cerasus, P. domestica, P. dulcis, P. emarginata, P. laurocerasus, P. lusitanica, P. mahaleb, P. padus, P. persica, P. ×pugetensis, P. spinosa, P. tomentosa, P. virginiana, P. yedoensis	P. americana, P. armeniaca, P. cerasifera, P. cerasus, P. domestica, P. dulcis, P. emarginata, P. laurocerasus, P. lusitanica, P. mahaleb, P. padus, P. persica, P. ×pugetensis, P. spinosa, P. tomentosa, P. virginiana, P. yedoensis
Web links	Local floras: OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Prunus americana

Prunus avium

American plum, wild plum

sweet cherry

Habit

Shrub or small tree, 1-10 m. tall, some of the branches sharp-pointed, the bark deep brownish-purple.

Deciduous tree with peeling red-brown bark, to 25 m. tall.

Leaves

Leaves alternate, deciduous, the petioles stout, pubescent, 5-12 mm. long, the blades lanceolate to elliptic, acuminate, acute at the base, serrate, glabrous, often hairy beneath, 4-10 cm. long.

Leaves alternate, oval and pointed, finely serrate, green above and somewhat downy beneath, with 2 conspicuous red glands at the top of the petiole.

Flowers

Flowers 2-4 in umbels, the pedicels slender;

calyx reddish tinged, the 5 lobes 2.5-3.5 mm. long, about equal to the tube, pubescent on the upper surface, oblong-lanceolate, serrulate;

petals 5, white, elliptic-oblong, 7-9 mm. long;

stamens about 25;

pistil 1, simple.

Inflorescence a loose cluster of 2-6 flowers;

petals 5, white, up to 15 mm. long;

stamens 20-30;

pistil 1.

Fruits

Drupe orange to purplish-red, the flesh yellow, 1.8-2.5 cm. long.

Fruit a drupe, globose, yellow, becoming dark red, strongly acid.

Prunus americana

Prunus avium

Flowering time

April-May

Habitat

Along watercourses, and on open or wooded, moist or dry areas from the plains into the lower mountains.

Forest edges, fields, wastelots, and other disturbed areas.

Distribution

Occurring east of the Cascades crest in southcentral and southeastern Washington; Washington to Oregon, east to the Rocky Mountains, and further east across North America to the Atlantic Coast.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington, though distributed widely throughout the state; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains, also in eastern North America.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Origin

Native and introduced from further east of Washington

Introduced from Eurasia

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa