rock cherry

Photo: User:Tigerente — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 6 through 8

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

The small cherries are edible but mealy and not very palatable raw, occasionally cooked, and the species is grown mainly for its spring flowers rather than for fruit. ⚠ Kernels/pits cyanogenic.

Hardiness

Zone 6–8

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Summer–autumn

Mature size

Prostrate mountain shrub 0.3–1 m, spreading flat over rock

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)

Environment

Mediterranean montane

Native range

High mountains of the Mediterranean region — from Spain, North Africa, and the Balkans east through Turkey, the Caucasus, and Iran to Kashmir and Afghanistan — typically above 2,000 m elevation

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

2–4 yrs

Growth speed

Medium growth rate

Spacing

120 cm (47 in) apart — about 1.4 m² (16 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Oblong-ovate to obovate, small (2–3.5 cm long), sharply serrated margins, downy or occasionally smooth beneath.

Root system

Shallow and wide-spreading over rock, anchoring the prostrate stems where they touch — a mountain species adapted to thin stony soil and sharp drainage.

Fruit description

Small, round cherries about 1 cm across with thin flesh and a single stone.

Propagation

Seed needs 2–3 months of cold stratification and is slow to germinate (up to 18 months); also by half-ripe heel cuttings in July-August, softwood cuttings in spring/early summer, or layering.

Pollination

Varies by species — see notes

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.