Wild cherry
Prunus avium
Family · Rosaceae · Irritating
The tree that lights up northern woods in April with a white cloud before it has leaves, and bears small dark cherries in June. It is the mother of every orchard cherry.
Oak woods · Uplands · Streams and ditches
Also known asgean, sweet cherry, mazzard
How to tell it
Smooth, reddish brown, shiny bark with horizontal bands of lenticels peeling off in strips: the genus's mark, visible from afar. Elongated toothed leaves with two red glands on the stalk, next to the blade. White flowers in groups of two to six, before the leaves.
What it is confused with
Bird cherry
Prunus padus
Bird cherry has flowers in long hanging racemes of twenty or more, and black very bitter fruits; wild cherry has flowers in small groups of a few and red to nearly black sweet fruits. Bird cherry fruits are not eaten raw.
What it is for
The fruits are eaten and are the origin of all cultivated cherries, but wild ones are small and often bitter. The stones are not: as in all Prunus they contain cyanogenic glycosides and are not chewed. The wood is among Europe's most valuable in joinery.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.