higan cherry

Photo: SLIMHANNYA — CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Survives zone 5 through 8

Harvest calendar

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

Grown as an ornamental for its very early, prolific pink or white blossom; the small black cherry-like fruits are edible but tiny and sparse, mostly left for birds rather than harvested for eating. ⚠ Kernels/pits cyanogenic.

Spread warning. Documented as invasive in parts of the mid-Atlantic US — listed as invasive in Northern Virginia and 13 Maryland counties, and naturalizing around Charlottesville, Richmond, and Farmville, Virginia, where bird-dispersed seed lets it establish in otherwise undisturbed forest understory.

Hardiness

Zone 5–8

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Summer–autumn

Mature size

Small tree 5–10 m

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Not native as a wild species in its own right — a hybrid between P. itosakura (syn. P. pendula) and P. incisa, both native to Japan, that arose in cultivation and has since been further selected there.

Status

Ornamental

Years to fruit

2–4 yrs

Growth speed

Fast when young, slowing with age — often over 60 cm/year in youth

Spacing

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

Leaf shape

Simple, alternate leaves ranging from linear to ovate, 2.5–10 cm long, with finely toothed margins.

Root system

Worth knowing that in cultivation this is usually the rootstock's root system, not the species' — most Prunus are sold grafted, and vigour, suckering and soil tolerance follow the stock rather than the top. On its own roots the species is shallow-rooted, with the bulk in the top 40–60 cm spreading well beyond the canopy, so it dislikes cultivation underneath and competes badly with grass.

Fruit description

Small oval drupes about 8 mm across, ripening from red to black, produced in profusion but with thin flesh.

Propagation

Named cultivars, especially weeping forms, are propagated by grafting onto an upright understock to create the characteristic umbrella shape; the species can also set viable seed, though cultivars don't come true from it.

Pollination

Hermaphrodite, insect-pollinated flowers — self-fertility isn't specifically documented for this species

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.