About the Black Cherry :
The Black Cherry tree, Prunus serotina, is native
to eastern North America, Mexico and Central
America. It typically occurs in both lowland and
upland woods and along streams. It is also known as
a wild cherry or wild rum cherry tree. It is one of
the largest of the cherries, typically growing to
50-80’ tall with a narrow-columnar to rounded crown.
This deciduous tree is most noted for its profuse
spring bloom. Their fragrant white flowers in
slender pendulous clusters appear with the spring
foliage. The flowers are followed by drooping
clusters of small red cherries that ripen in late
summer.
Black Cherry trees produce fruit that are bitter
and inedible fresh off the tree, but the fruit can
be used to make jams and jellies. Fruits have also
been used to flavor certain liquors such as brandy
and whiskey. The glossy green leaves turns to
attractive shades of yellow and rose in fall. Mature
trees develop dark scaly bark. Bark, roots and
leaves contain concentrations of toxic cyanogenic
compounds, hence the noticeable bitter almond aroma
of the inner bark. The Black Cherry tree produces
hard, reddish-brown wood that takes a fine polish
and is commercially valued for use in a large number
of products such as furniture, veneers, cabinets,
interior paneling, gun stocks, instrument/tool
handles and musical instruments.
