Black Cherry

Prunus serotina

Size: 3g & 7g available

Tree
Max size: 70’ tall x 30’ wide
Average size: 50′ tall x 20′ wide

Occasional Moist, Moist to Dry, Very Dry
Loam, Sand
Sun, Part Shade
Tolerant of Moderate Salt Spray

AKA: Wild Rum Cherry

This deciduous tree has an orange or red fall color, and blooms in the spring with delicate white flowers. Its fruits ripen in late summer to fall, and are good for jelly. The raw fruits are tart and gritty. The leaves and twigs are poisonout to livestock, pets, and humans if eaten in significant quantities. Over 45 species of birds visit the tree to eat the fruit. Bees are the primary pollinators, and it is a larval host for tiger swallowtail butterflies

Colonizers would blend the fruit with rum or brandy and called the drink “cherry bounce”, hence the common name “rum cherry”. It can also be made into other drinks or used in preserves. The traditional Chickasaw way to dry the fruit was by putting them on hot rocks, and they can also be dried for future use on a stove. The bark was used in tea or syrup for coughs, fever, cold, sore throat, diarrhea, lung ailments, and more. The wood is used to make buildings, furniture, and carvings; prized by carpenters for its beautiful wood.