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Prunus padus
Also called European bird cherry, Birdcherry
Bird cherry (Prunus padus) is a deciduous small tree or large shrub from temperate Eurasia, grown for its fragrant spring blossom and black fruit. It is a species in the rose family, and the sources cover the species and its two varieties.
Prunus padus, the bird cherry, is a flowering plant in the rose family, the type species of the subgenus Padus, which have flowers in racemes. It is native to Europe and northern and northeast Asia.
The fruit of this tree is seldom used in western Europe, but, long ago, may possibly have been used as a food far to the east.
In Russia the fruit of the tree is still used for culinary purposes. The dried berries are milled into a flour of variable fineness that forms the principal ingredient of bird-cherry cake. The flour is brown, and so is the cake, even though there is no chocolate in it. Both flour and cake are sold in local stores and bakeries. In a more conventional method of preparation, fresh bird cherries may also be minced and cooked to make jam.
The glycosides prulaurasin and amygdalin, which can be poisonous to some mammals, are present in some parts of P. padus, including the leaves, stems and fruit.
Prunus padus is native to temperate Eurasia from the British Isles to Japan. Its distribution includes all Western and Central Europe north of the Pyrenees and the Alps and south of the treeline with small pockets also found in Iberia and Northern Italy and in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa. It also inhabits all of Eastern Europe north of the Balkan Mountains and the Steppe, as well as in the Caucasus. In Asia it is found throughout the forests of Siberia, Mongolia, the Russian Far East, northernmost Korea, Hokkaido, and northeastern China. It is an invasive species in Alaska, prompting efforts at eradication.
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 padus 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.
