Flora of North America species comparison

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Prunus avium

cerisier des oiseaux, sweet cherry, wild cherry
Habit Trees, not suckering, 60–200 dm, not thorny.
Twigs

with terminal end buds, glabrous.
Leaves

deciduous;

petiole (14–)20–40 mm, nearly glabrous or sparsely hairy adaxially, glandular distally or on margins at bases of blades, glands 1–3, discoid;

blade oblong, elliptic-obovate, or obovate, (4–)7–14 × (2.5–)4–8.5 cm, base obtuse to rounded, margins doubly crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex abruptly short-acuminate, abaxial surface moderately hairy (especially midribs and veins), adaxial glabrous.
Inflorescences

1–3-flowered, umbellate fascicles.
Pedicels

(14–)25–52 mm, glabrous.
Flowers

blooming at leaf emergence;

hypanthium tubular-urceolate, 5–7 mm, glabrous externally;

sepals reflexed, oblong, 4–6 mm, margins entire or sparsely and irregularly toothed, surfaces glabrous;

petals white, obovate to suborbiculate, 12–15 mm;

ovaries glabrous.
Drupes

dark red to purplish black, globose, 13–30 mm, glabrous;

mesocarps fleshy;

stones subglobose, not flattened.
2n

= 16.

Prunus avium
Phenology Flowering Mar–May; fruiting Jun–Jul.
Habitat Roadsides, stream banks, forest edges, disturbed forests
Elevation 0–1600 m (0–5200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CT; DC; DE; ID; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; UT; VA; WA; WV; WY; BC; NB; NS; ON; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Cultivars of Prunus avium are grown in North America both for their attractive flowers, especially where the Japanese ornamental cherries are not hardy, and for their sweet fruits. Most of the sweet cherry crop in North America is grown in the Pacific Coast states and in Michigan and Ontario. Most varieties are self-incompatible and require pollen from a variety in a different incompatibility group in order to set fruits.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 9, p. 368.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus
Sibling taxa
P. americana, P. andersonii, P. angustifolia, P. armeniaca, P. caroliniana, P. cerasifera, P. cerasus, P. domestica, P. dulcis, P. emarginata, P. eremophila, P. fasciculata, P. fremontii, P. geniculata, P. glandulosa, P. gracilis, P. havardii, P. hortulana, P. ilicifolia, P. laurocerasus, P. lusitanica, P. mahaleb, P. maritima, P. mexicana, P. minutiflora, P. murrayana, P. myrtifolia, P. nigra, P. padus, P. pensylvanica, P. persica, P. pumila, P. rivularis, P. serotina, P. speciosa, P. spinosa, P. subcordata, P. subhirtella, P. texana, P. tomentosa, P. umbellata, P. virginiana, P. yedoensis
Synonyms P. cerasus var. avium
Name authority (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Fl. Suec. ed. 2, 165. (1755)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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