Common Name: Fall Cherry, Black Cherry, Black Cherry
Origin: North America
Height at maturity: from 20 to 35 meters
Plant type: tree
Flower color: –
Soil type: ordinary
Watering: not too dry
Use: in the garden, fruit garden
Diseases and Pests:-
Storage of seeds: 2 to 3 years in a dry place away from light at 3/4°C (refrigerator)
The black cherry is a tree that can reach a height of 20 m in Europe and up to 35 m in the United States.
The deciduous leaves are leathery, shiny on the upper side and equipped with forward-pointing teeth.
The flowers are white, slightly pedicellate (3-6 mm) and gathered in clusters of 10 to 15 cm.
The bitter fruit is dark red to black in color and 8-10 mm wide.
In the United States, where the tree is a native species, it is prized for its many uses. The heartwood of this tree has been used in cabinetmaking and furniture making since colonial times and is renowned for having a thick shade of red when polished. At the market, it can fetch a very high price (more than eighty US dollars per 100 cm2.)
The fruit of this species is also a common and seasonal ingredient in American cooking. It is often harvested there in the summer to be made into cherry pâtés, jams and preserves, and used in homemade ice cream. Commercially, it is also used as a flavoring agent for certain liqueurs and soft drinks.
In the southern United States, the wood of this tree is often used in barbecuing or for smoking meat.
Invasive species in Europe!
It was introduced into Europe in 1629 as an ornamental plant or of commercial interest, in the hope that its wood would be as sought after as in the United States of America. But it has become in the last 40 years one of the most important invasive plants of forests and edges – as in the southwest of France, in Holland or in Germany.
Its invasiveness seems favored by several factors:
– its voluntary introduction into the environment;
-the nature and history of the soil concerned; it is much more invasive on old podzols planted with softwoods.