black cherry

Photo: Unknown — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 3 through 9

Harvest calendar

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

⚠ Ripe black cherries are bittersweet with thin skin and dark juicy flesh, traditionally used to flavor whiskey (cherry bounce) and in jams, syrups, and baking — wilted leaves, bark, and seeds are cyanogenic (the ripe flesh itself is edible).

Spread warning. Introduced to Western and Central Europe for forestry in the early-to-mid 20th century (Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, northern France, Poland, Hungary, Romania), it has become one of the most aggressive invasive trees in European pine and mixed forests, forming dense understory thickets that suppress native tree regeneration and complicate silviculture.

Hardiness

Zone 3–9

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Summer–autumn

Mature size

Large tree 15–25 m — not containerable

Light

Full sun to partial — saplings shade-tolerant, fruits in the canopy

Soil pH

6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Eastern North America, from southeastern Canada south to Texas and Florida, with disjunct populations in the mountains of Mexico and Guatemala.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

2–4 yrs

Growth speed

Fast, especially as a young colonizer in full sun

Spacing

600 cm (236 in) apart — about 36 m² (388 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Oblong-lanceolate leaves 6–12 cm long, glossy dark green above, with a tapering pointed tip and finely serrate margins.

Root system

Fibrous root system; produces fewer suckers than many related Prunus species.

Fruit description

Pea-sized drupes, 7–10 mm across, ripening from red to nearly black from August through October, with thin skin and bittersweet dark juice around a single hard stone.

Propagation

Grown from seed after 60–90 days of cold, moist stratification; can also be propagated by hardwood, softwood, or root cuttings.

Pollination

Reports differ — wild stands are often described as self-incompatible, while cultivated/isolated trees are reported to set fruit alone; a second tree nearby is the safer bet either way

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.