Download Black Cherry - The Nature Conservancy

SPECIES ACCOUNT
BLACK CHERRY
(Prunus serotina)
The dark, shiny leaves are finely toothed around
the edges, and a trace of brownish-orange hair
fringes the base of the midrib on the underside of
each leaf. The bark of a mature tree is dark
brown and roughly textured; as a very young
tree, P. serotina has a thin and striped trunk,
resembling that of a birch. One other way to
remember how to identify a mature black cherry
is that its bark resembles burnt cornflakes. (BC =
Black Cherry).
Prunus serotina in bloom. Courtesy WikimediaCommons
user Sten.
Vineyard Overview
Walk along the edge of a meadow, the perimeter
of a farm, or into a clearing in a deciduous forest
on Martha’s Vineyard, and one plant you can
almost count on finding is the black cherry tree.
The black cherry, or Prunus serotina, is native to
the island and an important source of food and
shelter for a remarkable number of animals.
These strong, lanky trees prefer well-drained
soils and are shade-intolerant. That’s why they
are most often found in agricultural grasslands,
sand plain grasslands, and abandoned fields.
Black cherries are often solitary plants because
birds and mammals transport their seeds (which
are nestled inside nutritious fruits many animals
eat) long distances from their parent trees. And
because black cherries can self-pollinate, it’s
easy for isolated individuals to produce small but
persistent populations.
The horizontally striped bark of an adolescent tree (left)
and the rough bark of a mature tree (right). Courtesy
Wikimedia Commons users JDMcGreg and Krzysztof
ZIarnek, Kenraiz
P. serotina can grow to a maximum height of
about 50-100 feet, with a trunk diameter of about
30-50 inches, though such sizes are rarely if ever
seen on the Vineyard. The trees will produce
fruit yearly, with robust crops seen every 1-5
years. Black cherry is resilient and regrows
quickly after fire and cutting.
Black cherry trees are sometimes confused with
choke cherry, another native Vineyard tree.
While the adult black cherry will eventually
tower over the chokecherry, which rarely
exceeds 20 feet in height, as saplings of the two
are difficult to differentiate. The best way to tell
The Nature Conservancy
Massachusetts Islands Office
18 Helen Avenue, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568
Brian Lawlor,
Program Manager | [email protected] | (508) 693-6287 Ext. 10
them apart is by looking at the leaves: the
chokecherry has more rounded leaves than does
the black cherry, and also lacks the brownishorange hair found on the underside of the black
cherry leaves.
Rust-colored fuzz (“pubescence”)
on the underside of a black cherry
leaf. This feature is absent on
chokecherry leaves and is useful
in telling the two species apart.
Courtesy WikimediaCommons
user Krzysztof ZIarnek, Kenraiz.
On Martha’s Vineyard, the black cherry flowers
between May and July and produces fruits
between June and October. The flowers are
small, white, and arranged in drooping, cone-like
clusters. The fruits (cherries) are mildly sweet,
about a centimeter in diameter, and contain one
seed (pit). At first they are green-red but turn
black when they are ripe.
Ecological Functions
The fruit of P. serotina is an important source of
food for many animals including birds, deer,
squirrels, rabbits, and raccoons. Robins and
cedar waxwings, especially, feed heavily on the
fruit of this tree. The small white flowers of
black cherry provide nectar for many insects and
especially attract small flies and bees. Black
cherry is also the host plant for the caterpillars of
several moths, including the cecropia, and
several butterflies, including eastern tiger
swallowtail, coral hairstreak, striped hairstreak,
cherry-gall azure, and red-spotted purple.
Strategies
Providing so many nutritional resources through
its fruits, leaves, and flowers, cherry trees are
susceptible to pests and over-consumption in
general. Deer can be particularly devastating and
may need to be fenced out to keep them from
damaging cherry trees. Eastern tent caterpillars
also feed heavily on black cherry, forming
unattractive silk “tents” that house scores or
hundreds of caterpillars. These caterpillars can
defoliate a black cherry and impede growth.
Removal of tents for disposal by bagging or
burning is an unpleasant job but is worth
considering if a tree seems severely weakened by
repeated infestation.
A disease called black knot (Dibotryon
morbosum), which causes bulbous black growths
on the branches of trees in the Prunus genus, is a
threat to cherry trees on Martha’s Vineyard.
Mature knots sometimes invite insect borers and
can encircle entire branches -- worrisome
because the thin bark of black cherry makes it
susceptible to girdling.
Since black cherry trees can grow quite tall and
are shallow-rooted, this species is vulnerable to
wind damage. So black cherries should be sited
in relatively sheltered settings.
But in general, black cherry thrives naturally on
the island, and the best approach to encouraging
it may simply be leaving trees in place where
they have managed to establish themselves.
Bare-root or potted seedlings of black cherry are
also readily available on the commercial market,
and while Vineyard-origin specimens are not
available, most of what is on the market appears
to be quite similar to wild black cherry. Note that
a black cherry can produce a huge volume of
fruit, which can create a mess on the ground and
stain floors or carpets when tracked indoors. So
this is probably not a tree to encourage in heavily
trafficked areas near houses.
Notes
Black cherry can have a toxic effect on several
livestock animals. The leaves and stems of wilted
P. serotina contain hydrocyanic acid, which is
converted to cyanide in the stomachs of many
animals, especially grazing animals like cattle
and sheep. Interestingly, the leaves and stems of
living or dried P. serotina do not appear to have
this effect.