Your Own Trees
- Conferences
- Tree Identification
- Tree Biology
- Planning
- Tree Planting
- Care and Maintenance
- Timber Management
- Forest Products
Helpful Links
- Forestry Reference Handbook
- All Publications
- Education Opportunities
- Current Research
- Newsletters
- Who To Contact
- Forestry Related Links
- Site Map
Staff
Jesse Randall
Carol Elsberry
Claudette Sandoval-Green
Last Updated:
June 6, 2012
Report Page Errors
Publications
Links
- Interactive Tree ID
- Tree ID Definitions
- Index of Iowa Trees
- History of Iowa Trees
- Tree of the Month
- How a Tree Grows
- Fall Color in Iowa
- Making Tree Mounts
- Forestry Images
- USDA PLANTS
- Cornell: Trees & Shrubs
- ISU Campus Trees
- Plant Maps
- The Science Dictionary
Disease
Insects
Black cherry
(Prunus serotina)
Leaves are alternate, simple, single toothed, and oval or oblong shaped.
click on a county
Black cherry is the largest member of the rose family native to Iowa. It commonly attains heights of 60 feet and diameters of up to 2 feet on good sites; on less desirable sites it is often much smaller in size.
|
Black cherry is characterized by having alternate simple leaves, 2-6 inches long, uniformly wide to lance-shaped, pointed at the tip, and with fine teeth which curve inward towards the tip of the leaf. The upper surface of the leaf is dark green and shiny; the lower surface is paler in color. The leaf has 1-2 tiny glands on the petiole near the leaf blade. The buds are 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, with 6 dark red-brown scales; the terminal bud is usually slightly larger than lateral buds.
Branches are slender, smooth, pale green turning bright red to
dark
reddish-brown in color with age. The bark on older trees is thin, light
gray to nearly black in color and scaly with upturned edges. The
clusters
of dark red to black fruits taste bitter, but are used for jams and
wines
and utilized by many species of songbirds. The leaves and inner bark,
when
crushed, have a bitter almond aroma caused by hydrocyanic acid. The
cyanic
acid in wilted twigs and leaves may be dangerous to deer and cattle
when
consumed in large quantities in the fall, although deer can eat the
fresh
green leaves without ill effect.
Black cherry is native in all Iowa counties except Lyon and
Sioux. Cherry
does best on upland moist, fertile, well drained soils, but grows on a
wide variety of sites and soil conditions. As site quality
deteriorates,
so does the size and quality of the wood produced. Cherry grows in
mixed
stands; its common associates include the oaks, hickories, white ash,
bigtooth
and quaking aspen, ironwood and chokecherry.
Black cherry is seldom used as a landscape plant. Some of its characteristics, including producing less shade than maples and oaks, showy white flowers in the spring, dark-green glossy leaves, and moderately fast growth rate, indicate that cherry should be used more in urban conditions. As an open grown tree, cherry will develop with an oval, moderately spreading crown.
Cherry is prized as a wood for furniture because of its beautiful reddish to red brown color and its attractive luster when finished. Cherry wood is moderately hard and heavy, shrinks little when dried, works moderately easy, and warps little during seasoning and use. Because of its fine characteristics, cherry wood is used for various scientific instruments, printers' blocks, holding and shaping tools in fine crystal production, pianos and organs, handles and caskets.
Click on a thumbnail image below to view a larger picture. 
|
