''Prunus avium'', commonly called wild cherry,
sweet cherry,
gean,
or bird cherry
World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, Second Edition
'. CRC Press; 19 April 2016. . p. 833–. is a species of
cherry, a
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
in the rose family,
Rosaceae. It is native to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
,
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
,
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
, and
Western Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...
, from the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
south to
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
and
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
, north to the
Trondheimsfjord
The Trondheim Fjord or Trondheimsfjorden (), an inlet of the Norwegian Sea, is Norway's third-longest fjord at long. It is located in the west-central part of the country in Trøndelag county, and it stretches from the municipality of Ørland i ...
region in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
and east to the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...
and northern
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, with a small isolated population in the western
Himalaya
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
.
[Den Virtuella Floran]
''Prunus avium''
(in Swedish; wit
map
The species is widely cultivated in other regions and has become naturalized in North America and Australia.
''Prunus avium'' has a
diploid set of sixteen
chromosome
A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...
s (2''n'' = 16). All parts of the plant except for the ripe fruit are slightly toxic, containing
cyanogenic glycoside
In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. ...
s.
Description
![Glandes Prunus avium](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Glandes_Prunus_avium.jpg)
''Prunus avium'' is a
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...
tree growing to tall, with a trunk up to in diameter. Young trees show strong
apical dominance with a straight trunk and symmetrical conical crown, becoming rounded to irregular on old trees.
*The
bark is smooth purplish-brown with prominent horizontal grey-brown
lenticels on young trees, becoming thick dark blackish-brown and fissured on old trees.
*The
leaves are alternate, simple ovoid-acute, long and broad, glabrous matt or sub-shiny green above, variably finely downy beneath, with a serrated margin and an acuminate tip, with a green or reddish
petiole long bearing two to five small red glands. The tip of each serrated edge of the leaves also bear small red glands.
In autumn, the leaves turn orange, pink or red before falling.
* The
flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s are produced in early spring at the same time as the new leaves, borne in
corymb
Corymb is a botanical term for an inflorescence with the flowers growing in such a fashion that the outermost are borne on longer pedicels than the inner, bringing all flowers up to a common level. A corymb has a flattish top with a superficial ...
s of two to six together, each flower pendent on a peduncle, in diameter, with five pure white
petals
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corolla''. Petals are usually ...
, yellowish
stamens
The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10
Morphology and terminology
A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...
, and a
superior ovary; they are
hermaphroditic
In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes.
Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have s ...
, and pollinated by
bees. The ovary contains two
ovule
In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the '' integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the megasporangium), and the ...
s, only one of which becomes the seed.
*The
fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...
is a
drupe in diameter (larger in some cultivated selections), bright red to dark purple when mature in midsummer, edible, variably sweet to somewhat
astringent
An astringent (sometimes called adstringent) is a chemical that shrinks or constricts body tissues. The word derives from the Latin ''adstringere'', which means "to bind fast". Calamine lotion, witch hazel, and yerba mansa, a Californian pla ...
and bitter to eat fresh. Each fruit contains a single hard-shelled stone 8–12 mm long, 7–10 mm wide and 6–8 mm thick, grooved along the flattest edge; the
seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
(kernel) inside the stone is 6–8 mm long.
Taxonomy
![Kirschblueten-2011-ffm-075](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Kirschblueten-2011-ffm-075.jpg)
The early history of its classification is somewhat confused. In the first edition of ''
Species Plantarum'' (1753), Linnaeus treated it as only a variety, ''Prunus cerasus'' var. ''avium'', citing
Gaspard Bauhin
Gaspard Bauhin or Caspar Bauhin ( la, Casparus Bauhinus; 17 January 1560 – 5 December 1624), was a Swiss botanist whose ''Pinax theatri botanici'' (1623) described thousands of plants and classified them in a manner that draws comparisons to t ...
's ''Pinax theatri botanici'' (1596).
His description, ''Cerasus racemosa hortensis'' ("cherry with racemes, of gardens") shows it was described from a cultivated plant.
[Linnaeus, C. (1753). ''Species Plantarum'' 1: 474]
Online facsimile.
/ref> Linnaeus then changed from a variety to a species ''Prunus avium'' in the second edition of his ''Flora Suecica'' in 1755.[Linnaeus, C. (1755). ''Flora Suecica'', ed. 2: 165.]
Sweet cherry was known historically as gean or mazzard (also 'massard'). Until recently, both were largely obsolete names in modern English.
The name "wild cherry" is also commonly applied to other species of ''Prunus'' growing in their native habitats, particularly to the North American species ''Prunus serotina
''Prunus serotina'', commonly called black cherry,World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, Second Edition'. CRC Press; 19 April 2016. . p. 833–. wild black cherry, rum cherry, or mountain black cherry, is a deciduous tree or shrub of the g ...
''.
''Prunus avium'' means "bird cherry" in the Latin language
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of t ...
, but in English "bird cherry" refers to '' Prunus padus''.[Flora of NW Europe]
''Prunus padus''
Mazzard
'Mazzard' has been used to refer to a selected self-fertile
Self-incompatibility (SI) is a general name for several genetic mechanisms that prevent self-fertilization in sexually reproducing organisms, and thus encourage outcrossing and allogamy. It is contrasted with separation of sexes among individuals ...
cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
that comes true from seed, and which is used as a seedling rootstock
A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to a ...
for fruiting cultivars.[Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan .][Plants for a Future]
''Prunus avium''
/ref>
The term is used particularly for the varieties of ''P. avium'' grown in North Devon and cultivated there, particularly in the British orchards at Landkey
Landkey ( kw, Lannke) is a small village in the county of Devon in the south-west of England with a population of 2274, falling to 1,734 at the 2011 census. It is situated from the nearest town of Barnstaple. The village is a major part of ...
.
Ecology
The fruit are readily eaten by numerous kinds of bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
s and mammals, which digest the fruit flesh and disperse the seeds in their droppings. Some rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...
s, and a few birds (notably the hawfinch
The hawfinch (''Coccothraustes coccothraustes'') is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Coccothraustes''. Its closest living relatives are the Chinese grosbeak (''Eophona migratoria'') ...
), also crack open the stones to eat the kernel inside.
The leaves provide food for some animals, including Lepidoptera such as the case-bearer
__NOTOC__
The Coleophoridae are a family of small moths, belonging to the huge superfamily Gelechioidea. Collectively known as case-bearers, casebearing moths or case moths, this family is represented on all continents, but the majority are found ...
moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
''Coleophora anatipennella
''Coleophora anatipennella'' is a moth of the case-bearer family (Coleophoridae).
Taxonomy
It was described by Jacob Hübner in 1796. It is the type species of its genus (''Coleophora'') and, via that, of its family.
It is not completely u ...
''.
The tree exudes a gum from wounds in the bark, by which it seals the wounds to exclude insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...
s and fungal
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...
infections.[Vedel, H., & Lange, J. (1960). ''Trees and Bushes in Wood and Hedgerow''. Metheun & Co. Ltd., London.]
''Prunus avium'' is thought to be one of the parent species of ''Prunus cerasus
''Prunus cerasus'' (sour cherry, tart cherry, or dwarf cherry) is a species of ''Prunus'' in the subgenus '' Cerasus'' (cherries), native to much of Europe and southwest Asia. It is closely related to the sweet cherry (''Prunus avium''), but ha ...
'' (sour cherry), by way of ancient crosses between it and ''Prunus fruticosa
''Prunus fruticosa'', the European dwarf cherry, dwarf cherry, Mongolian cherry or steppe cherry is a deciduous, xerophytic, winter-hardy, cherry-bearing shrub. It is also called ground cherry and European ground cherry, but is not to be conf ...
'' (dwarf cherry) in the areas where the two species overlap. All three species can breed with one another.
''Prunus cerasus'' is now a species in its own right, having developed beyond a hybrid and stabilised.
Cultivation
It is often cultivated as a flowering tree. Because of the size of the tree, it is often used in parkland, and less often as a street or garden tree. The double-flowered form, 'Plena', is commonly found, rather than the wild single-flowered forms.[European Garden Flora; Volume IV] In the UK, ''P. avium'' 'Plena' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity.
The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...
's Award of Garden Merit.
Two interspecific hybrids, ''P''. × ''schmittii'' (''P. avium'' × '' P. canescens'') and ''P''. × ''fontenesiana'' (''P. avium'' × '' P. mahaleb'') are also grown as ornamental trees.
Toxicity
All parts of the plant except for the ripe fruit are slightly toxic, containing cyanogenic glycoside
In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. ...
s.[Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain and Europe''. Collins .][Mitchell, A. F. (1974). ''Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe''. Collins .][Flora of NW Europe]
''Prunus avium''
Uses
Fruit
Some 18th- and 19th-century botanical authors assumed a western Asian origin for the species based on the writings of Pliny
Pliny may refer to:
People
* Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'')
* Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
; however, archaeological finds of seeds from prehistoric Europe contradict this view.
Wild cherries have been an item of human food for several thousands of years. The stones have been found in deposits at Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
settlements throughout Europe, including in Britain. In one dated example, wild cherry macrofossils were found in a core sample
A core sample is a cylindrical section of (usually) a naturally-occurring substance. Most core samples are obtained by drilling with special drills into the substance, such as sediment or rock, with a hollow steel tube, called a core drill. The ...
from the detritus beneath a dwelling at an Early and Middle Bronze Age pile-dwelling site on and in the shore of a former lake at Desenzano del Garda
Desenzano del Garda ( lmo, label= Brescian, Dezensà) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, Italy, on the southwestern shore of Lake Garda. It borders the communes of Castiglione delle Stiviere, Lonato, Padenghe sul ...
or Lonato
Lonato del Garda (before 1 July 2007 simply Lonato; lmo, label=Eastern Lombard, Lonad, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, northern Italy. Lonato is located about halfway between Milan and Venice, on the southwes ...
, near the southern shore of Lake Garda
Lake Garda ( it, Lago di Garda or ; lmo, label= Eastern Lombard, Lach de Garda; vec, Ƚago de Garda; la, Benacus; grc, Βήνακος) is the largest lake in Italy.
It is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, about halfway between ...
, Italy. The date is estimated at Early Bronze Age IA, carbon dated
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.
The method was dev ...
there to 2077 BCE plus or minus 10 years. The natural forest was largely cleared at that time.
By 800 BCE, cherries were being actively cultivated in Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, and soon after in Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
.
As the main ancestor of the cultivated cherry, the sweet cherry is one of the two cherry species which supply most of the world's commercial cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
s of edible cherry (the other is the sour cherry
''Prunus cerasus'' (sour cherry, tart cherry, or dwarf cherry) is a species of ''Prunus'' in the subgenus '' Cerasus'' ( cherries), native to much of Europe and southwest Asia. It is closely related to the sweet cherry (''Prunus avium''), but ...
''Prunus cerasus'', mainly used for cooking; a few other species have had a very small input).
Various cherry cultivars are now grown worldwide wherever the climate is suitable; the number of cultivars is now very large. The species has also escaped from cultivation and become naturalised
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...
in some temperate regions, including southwestern Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, Japan, New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, and the northeast and northwest of the United States.
Timber
The hard, reddish-brown wood
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...
(cherry wood) is valued as a hardwood for woodturning
Woodturning is the craft of using a wood lathe with hand-held tools to cut a shape that is symmetrical around the axis of rotation. Like the potter's wheel, the wood lathe is a simple mechanism that can generate a variety of forms. The operator ...
, and making cabinets and musical instruments. Cherry wood is also used for smoking foods, particularly meats, in North America, as it lends a distinct and pleasant flavor to the product.
Other uses
The gum from bark wounds is aromatic and can be chewed as a substitute for chewing gum
Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/ plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its t ...
.
Medicine can be prepared from the stalks ( peduncles) of the drupes that is astringent
An astringent (sometimes called adstringent) is a chemical that shrinks or constricts body tissues. The word derives from the Latin ''adstringere'', which means "to bind fast". Calamine lotion, witch hazel, and yerba mansa, a Californian pla ...
, antitussive
Cold medicines are a group of medications taken individually or in combination as a treatment for the symptoms of the common cold and similar conditions of the upper respiratory tract. The term encompasses a broad array of drugs, including ...
, and diuretic
A diuretic () is any substance that promotes diuresis, the increased production of urine. This includes forced diuresis. A diuretic tablet is sometimes colloquially called a water tablet. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics i ...
.
A green dye can also be prepared from the plant.
Wild cherry is used extensively in Europe for the afforestation of agricultural land and it is also valued for wildlife
Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...
and amenity
In property and land use planning, amenity (lat. ''amoenitās'' “pleasantness, delightfulness”) is something considered to benefit a location, contribute to its enjoyment, and thereby increase its value.
Tangible amenities can include the ...
plantings. Many European countries have gene conservation and/or breeding
Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant.
Breeding may refer to:
* Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and ra ...
programmes for wild cherry.
Cultural history
Pliny distinguishes between ''Prunus'', the plum fruit, and ''Cerasus'', the cherry fruit.[Pliny. ''Natural History'' Book XV Section XXX.] Already in Pliny quite a number of cultivars are cited, some possibly species or varieties, Aproniana, Lutatia, Caeciliana, and so on. Pliny grades them by flavour, including dulcis ("sweet") and acer ("sharp"). and goes so far as to say that before the Roman consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus defeated Mithridates in 74 BC, ''Cerasia … non-fuere in Italia'', "There were no cherry trees in Italy". According to him, Lucullus brought them in from Pontus
Pontus or Pontos may refer to:
* Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea)
* Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology
* Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...
and in the 120 years since that time they had spread across Europe to Britain.
Although cultivated/domesticated varieties of ''Prunus avium'' (sweet cherry) did not exist in Britain or much of Europe, the tree in its wild state is native to most of Europe, including Britain. Evidence of consumption of the wild fruits has been found as far back as the Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
at a Crannog
A crannog (; ga, crannóg ; gd, crannag ) is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes and estuarine waters of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Unlike the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, which were bu ...
in County Offaly, in Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
Seeds of a number of cherry species have however been found in Bronze Age and Roman archaeological sites throughout Europe. The reference to "sweet" and "sour" supports the modern view that "sweet" was ''Prunus avium''; there are no other candidates among the cherries found. In 1882 Alphonse de Candolle
Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (28 October 18064 April 1893) was a French-Swiss botanist, the son of the Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle.
Biography
De Candolle, son of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, first devot ...
pointed out that seeds of ''Prunus avium'' were found in the Terramare culture
Terramare, terramara, or terremare is a technology complex mainly of the central Po valley, in Emilia, Northern Italy, dating to the Middle and Late Bronze Age c. 1700–1150 BC. It takes its name from the "black earth" residue of settleme ...
of north Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
(1500–1100 BC) and over the layers of the Swiss pile dwellings. Of Pliny's statement he says (p. 210):
Since this error is perpetuated by its incessant repetition in classical schools, it must once more be said that cherry trees (at least the bird cherry) existed in Italy before Lucullus, and that the famous gourmet did not need to go far to seek the species with the sour or bitter fruit.
De Candolle suggests that what Lucullus brought back was a particular cultivar of ''Prunus avium'' from the Caucasus. The origin of cultivars of ''P. avium'' is still an open question. Modern cultivated cherries differ from wild ones in having larger fruit, 2–3 cm diameter. The trees are often grown on dwarfing rootstocks to keep them smaller for easier harvesting.
Folkard (1892) similarly identifies Lucullus's cherry as a cultivated variety. He states that it was planted in Britain a century after its introduction into Italy, but "disappeared during the Saxon period". He notes that in the fifteenth century "Cherries on the ryse" (i.e. on the twigs) was one of the street cries of London, but conjectures that these were the fruit of "the native wild Cherry, or Gean-tree". The cultivated variety was reintroduced into Britain by the fruiterer of Henry VIII, who brought it from Flanders and planted a cherry orchard at Teynham.[Folkard, Richard (1892) "Plant Lore, Legends and Lyrics", 2nd edn., Sampson, Low, Marston & Company, London.]
See also
* List of Award of Garden Merit flowering cherries
The following tree species and cultivars in the genus ''Prunus'' (family Rosaceae) currently (2016)
hold the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. All are described as flowering or ornamental cherries, though they have mixed parent ...
References
External links
*
*
''Prunus avium''
- distribution map, genetic conservation units and related resources. European Forest Genetic Resources Programme
European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN) is an international network that supports the conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources in Europe. The programme’s tasks include to coordinate and promote '' in situ'' an ...
(EUFORGEN)
{{Authority control
avium
Cherries
Flora of Europe
Flora of North Africa
Flora of Western Asia
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Trees of humid continental climate
Trees of mild maritime climate
Garden plants of Asia
Garden plants of Europe
Ornamental trees
Fruit trees