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Black Cherry

Prunus serotina

Photo by QWMom
Published on Project Noah
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34.0055, -84.5885

Field Notes

Description:

Black Cherry is a common, weedy, early-successional tree.
The bark is smooth when young, with horizontally elongated lenticels.
Black Cherry produces masses of white flowers in spring. The specific epithet serotina means "late" - it flowers later that other native cherries.
The black cherry is a species in the subgenus Padus and is a deciduous tree growing to 15–30 metres (49–98 ft) tall with a trunk diameter of up to 70–120 centimetres (28–47 in), occasionally more, with flowers in racemes. The leaves are simple, 6–14 centimetres (2.4–5.5 in) long, with a serrated margin. The flowers are small (10–15 millimetres (0.39–0.59 in) diameter), with five white petals and about 20 stamens, and are fragrant; there are around 40 flowers on each raceme.
The fruit is a drupe, 1 centimetre (0.39 in) in diameter, green to red at first, ripening to black; it is usually astringent and bitter when eaten fresh, but also somewhat sweet

This specimen is just beginning to bud, the flower have not yet appeared.

Habitat:

Native to eastern North America: from eastern Canada through southern Quebec and Ontario; south through the eastern United States to Texas and central Florida.

Notes:

The leaves release the distinctive cherry-like aroma of cyanide when crushed. Healthy leaves contain prunasin, which is converted to hydrogen cyanide (HCN) when the leaves are crushed. This highly toxic substance acts as a defense mechanism against herbivores.

Add'l web ref:
http://www.carolinanature.com/trees/prse.html

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