Black Cherry Thumbnail
Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Common
Name

Scientific
Name

Plant
Family

Garden
Location

Prime
Season
Black Cherry
Prunus serotina Ehrh.
Rose (Rosaceae)
Woodland
Spring Flowering - May
Other names and notes

(Black Wild Cherry, Whisky Cherry, Rum-cherry). The Black Cherry is a large native tree that in Minnesota grows to a height of 50 feet or more. Flowers and fruits resemble the Chokecherry shrub. The flowers are 5-parted, white, and occur in a dense 4 to 6" long cylindrical raceme which may droop downward and grows at the end of new twig growth. The alternate leaves are simple, ovate to lanceolate, no hair on top and usually with reddish hair under along the midrib near the base of the leaf. up to 6" long 2" wide. Leaf edges are finely toothed. The bark of larger trees is dark brown to black, fissured and scaly, and breaks off in patches. Bark of young limbs is smooth with conspicuous horizontal lenticels (ridges of pore openings), twigs are reddish. The inner bark is aromatic. The flowers mature in late summer into round berries, up to 1/3" in diameter, resembling miniature cherries, and which contain a single black stone. Ripe fruit is black, and has s slightly bitter but rich, winey flavor. The plant grows in forest openings, edge rows and does best as a second generation tree following removal of the first generation trees. It is shade tolerant and will grow as an understory tree, but not to its best ability. Trees require about 10 years to begin producing seed and the best production is on trees over 30 years old. The plant has a shallow root system and is susceptible to wind blow down. Black Cherry is the source of cherry wood for cabinet wood and furniture. The common name "rum-cherry" came about from the early use of producing a drink with rum - "cherry bounce" as it was called.

Hazard: Like the chokecherry, the leaves, twigs, bark and seed are somewhat toxic as they contain a cyanogenic glycoside. Browsing livestock are affected by native mammals like deer do not seem to be.
Black Cherry flowers
Cary George with Black Cherry
Above: Flower clusters of late May. Photo ©Paul Drobot, University of Wisconsin, Steven's Point
Above: Black Cherry fruit turning to the mature black color. Photo ©David Lee, University of Wisconsin, Steven's Point
Black Cherry fruits
 
Above: Gardener Cary George with the Garden's large Black Cherry that is a Minneapolis Heritage Tree.
Below: The ovate alternate leaves.
Below: Typical bark pattern of Black Cherry
Below: The underside midrib showing the brownish fine hair.
Black Cherry Leaves
Black Cherry Bark
Black Cherry leaf underside
 
 

Notes: Eloise Butler planted Black Cherry in the Garden on May 28, 1909 with plants from the Park Board Nursery. It has been listed on each Garden census since then. Ten additional trees were planted by Curator Susan Wilkins in 2008. One specimen in the Garden is a Minneapolis Heritage Tree. Black Cherry is native to the eastern half of North America and in the U.S. its western range is the extent of the original tall grass prairie - out to Nebraska and Kansas. Its range then extends southwest along the southern edge of the U.S. as far west as Arizona. As it is a woodland tree, in Minnesota it is found in counties in a diagonal band from the SE to the NW - basically the old 'Big Woods'. Absent in the NE and SW.

Lore and uses: The fruit of the Black Cherry has uses similar to the Chokecherry - eaten, jelly, wine, etc. as long as precautions are taken to remove the pits which contain the toxin. Densmore (Ref. 5) in her study of the Minnesota Chippewa reports on the use of the berries for food. The Chippewa would squeeze them in their hands and make them into little cakes, dry them on birch bark, without cooking, and then store them for later use for cooking. Mixed with dried meat, they made pemmican. They also made a decoction from the root or of the bark, which was used for ulcers and cholera infantum. For scrofulous neck, the recipe was - use fresh roots mashed as a poultice; or to scrape the inner bark, boil, and use as a water wash. More medicine below.

Medicinally, it has been the inner bark where the glycoside is concentrated as are acids and traces of volatile oil, that has been used to prepare tonics for coughs and for sedatives and as an astringent. The inner bark has been listed in the USP (United States Pharmacopeia) from 1820 to the present and in the NF (National Formulary) since the 1888 1st edition. Bark is preferred to be collected in the autumn. The chemicals in the bark act as a sedative and expectorant and are also used today as a flavoring agent. Bark tea is used for coughs, colds and cholera. John Lloyd wrote that no more popular bark, except for sassafras, is known for home medication. Meriwether Lewis was once ill with abdominal cramps and fever on the Upper Missouri and took a decoction of the twigs and was well the next day. Pennsylvania Dutch frequently drank wild cherry tea made from bark and fruit. Tea of bark was given to Cherokee women in the first pains of childbirth. The Potawatomies used the bark for an eyewash and made a tonic cough drink from the berries. The Menominees pounded the inner bark for a poultice on a wound. The list goes on and on.

  
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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.  
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