Prunus serotina Ehrh.

Black Cherry

© SRTurner

Family - Rosaceae

Habit - Tree, usually 10-15 m tall, not suckering.

Stems - Branches unarmed. Twigs glabrous or sparsely pubescent with short, reddish brown, glandular hairs, producing a terminal winter bud. Older growth gray-brown with round to oval lenticels and black punctate dots. Twigs pungent when bruised or cut.

	Twig.
© DETenaglia

	Bark of young tree.
© DETenaglia

Leaves - Alternate, simple, petiolate, stipulate. Stipules narrowly linear, the margins toothed and frequently glandular, shed early. Petioles 10-18 mm long, glabrous, with usually 2 glands at or near the tip. Leaf blades 4.0-13.5 cm long, 1.7-5.8 cm wide, more than 2 times as long as wide, narrowly elliptic to elliptic or lanceolate, rarely obovate, angled to rounded at the base, angled or more commonly tapered to a sharply pointed tip, the margins simply toothed, the blunt to more or less sharp teeth mostly incurved to appressed, lacking glands, the upper surface glabrous and usually somewhat shiny, the undersurface pale, glabrous or short-hairy along the midvein toward the base. Leaf tissue with a distinctive odor when crushed.

	Stem and leaves.
© SRTurner

	Leaf adaxial.
© SRTurner

	Leaf abaxial.
© SRTurner

	Leaf abaxial surface and leaf margin.
© SRTurner

	Stipules and petiolar glands.
© SRTurner

	Pressed leaves.
© DETenaglia

Inflorescences - Produced after the leaves develop, terminal on current year's growth, racemes of 18-55 flowers, 8-16 cm long, the flower stalks 2-6 mm long, usually glabrous.

	Inflorescences.
© SRTurner

	Inflorescence.
© SRTurner

Flowers - Hypanthium 1.5-3.0 mm long, hemispheric to more or less bell-shaped, glabrous. Sepals 0.5-1.5 mm long, ascending to spreading or reflexed at flowering, oblong-triangular, sharply pointed at the tip and persistent after flowering, the margins lacking glands or sparsely glandular-toothed, the inner surface glabrous. Petals 5, distinct, 2-4 mm long, obovate to nearly circular, white. Stamens about 20, of varying lengths, borne at the rim of the hypanthium. Filaments green-translucent, to 3 mm long, glabrous. Anthers yellow when fresh, 1 mm long. Ovary superior, green to purplish, ovoid, unilocular, with 1 ovule. Style 1. glabrous, green, 2 mm long, thick. Stigma captiate.

	Flowers.
© SRTurner

	Inflorescence axis and hypanthia.
© SRTurner

	Corollas.
© SRTurner

	Sectioned flower showing superior ovary, style, and stigma.
© SRTurner

Fruits Globose drupes 5-10 mm long, the surface dark purple to nearly black, glabrous, not glaucous, the fleshy layer well-developed, the stone subglobose, not flattened, the surface smooth to finely wrinkled. Flesh sweet to bitter in flavor.

	Immature fruits.
© SRTurner

Flowering - April - May.

Habitat - Bottomland and mesic forests, upland prairies, streambanks, pond margins, fens, pastures, fencerows, old mines, railroads, roadsides, open to shaded, disturbed areas.

Origin - Native to the U.S. and Canada.

Other info. - This species can be found throughout Missouri and is quite common. The variety found in Missouri, var. serotina, also occurs throughout the eastern half of the continental U.S., its range coming to a sharp end along a longitudinal boundary running through eastern Nebraska and Kansas. When in flower it is easily recognized by its numerous racemes of fragrant white flowers. The bark is usually a distinctive dark gray in color, becoming furrowed with scaly plates on older specimens. The leaf petioles, as in all members of the genus, bear small glands near their junction with the leaf blade, and the crushed leaves emit a faint odor of benzaldehyde due to their content of the glycosidic cyanohydrin prunasin. Since another breakdown product of prunasin is hydrogen cyanide, the leaves (particularly storm-damaged foliage) can be toxic to grazing livestock.

Black cherry is a tree with multiple uses. Pulp of the small fruits is used to flavor numerous beverages, jellies, and baked goods, as well as non-food items such as cough syrup. In wild settings, the fruits can be difficult for humans to find, being relished and readily consumed by wildlife. The bark has astringent properties and has been used medicinally for sore throats, coughs, and as an expectorant. The tree has been cultivated as a landscaping plant, though it is not optimal for this use, as it tends to shed limbs in storms.

The wood of the tree is tight-grained and easy to work yet hard enough to take everyday abuse. The majority of big logs used for lumber are cut from the northeastern United States. The heartwood ages to a beautiful deep red color while the sapwood stays a whitsh-yellow color. Numerous items are constructed wholly or partly from the wood, including furniture, veneers, flooring, paneling, tool handles, scientific instruments, musical instruments, and caskets.

Photographs taken off Hwy 82, Bullock County, AL., 3-18-06 (DETenaglia); also near Labadie, Franklin County, MO, 4-29-2023 and 5-21-2023 (SRTurner).