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Prunus cerasus
Also called Dwarf Cherry, Morello Cherry, Pie Cherry, Tart Cherry, Amarelle Cherry
Sour cherry is a small, twiggy fruit tree (4 to 10 m tall) grown for its tart red cherries, used in pies, preserves and beer. It needs a cold winter rest to fruit well and is hardy in temperate climates.
Prunus cerasus (sour cherry, tart cherry, or dwarf cherry) is an Old World species of Prunus in the subgenus Cerasus (cherries). It has two main groups of cultivars: the dark-red Morello cherry and the lighter-red Amarelle cherry. The sour pulp is edible.
Cultivated sour cherries were selected from wild specimens of Prunus cerasus from around the Caspian and Black Seas, and were known to the Greeks in 300 BC. They were also used by Persians and the Romans who introduced them into Britain long before the 1st century AD.
As early as the 12th century, a Morello type sour cherry was grown in the Schaerbeek region of Belgium. Schaerbeek cherries were devastated by the Napoleonic and World Wars. Today there are efforts to reestablish Schaerbeek sour cherries, a defining component of Kriek lambic beer culture in Belgium recognized by UNESCO in 2016 as an "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity." Although a "Morello type," Schaerbeek cherries are distinctive in that they are ovate on the horizontal axis, a deeper burgundy color when ripe, have a lower chill requirement to set fruit, and have a distinctive cinnamon aroma and flavor.
It is distributed in much of Europe, North Africa and West Asia. There are likely no truly wild occurrences. However, particularly the subspecies acida easily escapes cultivation and is naturalized throughout the growing area.
Prunus adenopoda · Red stinkwood · Prunus aitchisonii · Alabama cherry · Prunus alaica · Allegheny plum · American plum · Prunus amplifolia · Almond · Desert peach · Chickasaw plum · Prunus annularis
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Prunus cerasus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
