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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.