Black cherry, the largest of the
native cherries and the only one of
commercial value, is found
throughout the Eastern United
States. It is also known as wild
black cherry, rum cherry, and
mountain black cherry. Large,
high-quality trees suited for
furniture wood or veneer are found
in large numbers in a more
restricted commercial range on the
Allegheny Plateau of Pennsylvania,
New York, and West Virginia. Smaller
quantities of high-quality trees
grow in scattered locations along
the southern Appalachian Mountains
and the upland areas of the Gulf
Coastal Plain. Elsewhere, black
cherry is often a small, poorly
formed tree of relatively low
commercial value, but important to
wildlife for its fruit.
Black cherry and its varieties grow
under a wide range of climatic
conditions, and it tolerates a wide
variety of soils, providing the
summer months are cool and moist. In
Canada, black cherry grows at sea
level, while in the Appalachians it
grows at 5,000 feet or more. It is
thought black cherry will move its
range northward and upward in
response to man-made global warming.
Flowering and Fruiting- Unlike
domestic cherries, which flower
before the leaves appear, black
cherry flowers late in relation to
leaf development. At the latitude of
41° to 42° N. in Pennsylvania and
New York, black cherry flowers
usually appear around May 15 to May
20. At that time, the leaves are
nearly full-grown though still
reddish in color (36). Flower
development in other parts of the
range varies with climate-from the
end of March in Texas to the first
week of June in Quebec, Canada.
Black cherry flowers are white,
solitary, and borne in umbel-like
racemes. The flowers are perfect and
are insect pollinated. Several
species of flies, a flower beetle,
and several species of bees,
including the honey bee, work the
blossoms for pollen and nectar.
Self-pollination has been observed,
but none of the self-pollinated
flowers developed into viable seeds.
Late spring frosts may damage the
flowers before they open, and frosts
occasionally cause large numbers of
newly set fruits to fall from the
pedicels without maturing. Premature
dropping of green fruits is also a
problem in some years. The fruit is
a one-seeded drupe about 10 min
(0.38 in) in diameter with a bony
stone or pit. The fruit is black
when ripe.
The bulk of the seed crop falls to
the ground in the vicinity of the
parent tree. Circles of advance
seedlings beneath scattered cherry
trees and an absence of seedlings
elsewhere are common occurrences in
closed stands. As a result, the
amount of black cherry advance
reproduction is highly dependent on
the number and distribution of
seed-producing trees in the
overstory. Songbirds distribute
modest quantities of seeds in their
droppings or by regurgitation.
Omnivorous mammals, such as foxes
and bears, also distribute seeds in
their droppings. Bird and mammal
distribution often accounts for a
surprising abundance of advance
cherry seedlings in stands lacking
cherry seed producers. |
This black cherry is about 80 feet tall,
flowering on May 26th, 2008, Near Chicago,
Illinois.
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The root system
of black cherry is predominantly
spreading and shallow, even in
well-drained soils. Most roots are
restricted to the upper 60 cm (24
in) of soil or less, with occasional
sinker roots extending to depths of
90 to 120 cm (36 to 48 in). On wet
sites, the tendency toward shallow
rooting is especially pronounced.
Because of this tendency to grow
taller than associated species in
mixed stands, cherry is vulnerable
to windthrow, especially on poorly
drained soils and at older ages.
The most
important defoliating insects
attacking black cherry include the
eastern tent caterpillar (Malacosoma
americanum) and the cherry scallop
shell moth (Hydria prunivorata).
Infestations of these insects are
sporadically heavy, with some
apparent growth loss and occasional
mortality if heavy defoliations
occur several years in a row.
Attacks by numerous species of
insects cause gum defects in black
cherry, resulting in reduced timber
quality. Gum spots in the wood are
often associated with the Agromyzid
cambium miner (Phytobia pruni), the
peach bark beetle (Phloeotribus
liminaris), and by the lesser
peachtree borer (Synathedon
pictipes). A wide variety of insects
can cause injury to terminal shoots
of black cherry seedlings and
saplings, resulting in stem
deformity. Archips spp. and
Contarinia cerasiserotinae are among
the more important.
The most common disease is cherry
leaf spot caused by Coccomyces
lutescens. Large numbers of black
cherry seedlings are sometimes
weakened or killed by this disease.
Repeated attacks reduce the vigor of
larger trees. Most other foliage
diseases cause little damage.
Black knot, a native disease caused
by the fungus Apiosporina morbosa is
common on black cherry. It causes
elongated rough black swellings
several times the diameter of the
normal stem. Small twigs may be
killed within a year after
infection. Large cankerous
swellings, a foot or more in length,
may occur on the trunks of larger
trees, and where several such
lesions are scattered along the
bole, the tree is worthless for
lumber. Cytospora leucostoma is the
cause of a canker disease
responsible for widespread branch
mortality of black cherry in
Pennsylvania. Common infection
courts are decaying fruit racemes
and bark fissures caused by
excessive gum production following
passage of the larvae of Phytobia
pruni, a cambium mining insect. |
Black cherry flowers are white, solitary, and
borne in umbel-like racemes. The flowers are
perfect and are insect pollinated. I think they
stink.
|
Several
basidiomycete fungi that cause root
and butt rot of living black cherry
trees include Armillaria mellea,
Coniophora cerebella, Polyporus
berkeleyi, and Tyromyces spraguei.
Many other fungi cause decay of the
main trunk; these include Fomes
fomentarius, Fomitopsis pinicola,
Poria prunicola. P. mutans, and
Laetiporus sulphureus. Damage caused
by glaze storms exposes black cherry
to infection by top-rot fungi.
Porcupines girdle and kill black
cherry trees and also consume bark,
thereby providing entry points for
fungi. Meadow mice and meadow voles
girdle the stem near the ground.
Such damage where grass or other
herbaceous cover provides suitable
habitat for the mice is probably one
of the major causes of planting
failure in unregenerated clearcuts
and old fields.
White-tailed deer, rabbits, and hare
feed on black cherry seedlings. In
parts of Pennsylvania, deer browsing
is the most serious problem of black
cherry.
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Black cherry is often
infested with tent
caterpillars in
springtime. |
Special Uses
Black cherry fruits are an important
source of mast for many nongame
birds, squirrel, deer, turkey, mice
and moles, and other wildlife. The
leaves, twigs, and bark of black
cherry contain cyanide in bound form
as the cyanogenic glycoside,
prunasin. During foliage wilting,
cyanide is released and domestic
livestock that eat wilted foliage
may get sick or die. Deer eat
unwilted foliage without harm.
The bark has medicinal properties.
In the southern Appalachians, bark
is stripped from young black
cherries for use in cough medicines,
tonics, and sedatives (36,39). The
fruit is used for making jelly and
wine. Appalachian pioneers sometimes
flavored their rum or brandy with
the fruit to make a drink called
cherry bounce. To this, the species
owes one of its names, rum cherry.
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