Plant Family: Rosaceae
Growth Form: Usually shrubby, often with multiple trunks; in rich deep soil it may grow to be a tree from 5 to 10 meters tall.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, thin, broadly elliptic to obovate, finely toothed, 6 – 12 cm long, lacking hairs on the midrib beneath.
Bark: Brown to gray, smooth to somewhat scaly.
Flowers: White, with 5 petals, in long racemes, May to June.
Fruits: Deep red to purple-black drupes, 1 cm in diameter, in long racemes up to 15 cm long, calyx not present on the ripe fruit; late July into September.
Habitat: Dry woods, thickets, woodland edges, roadsides.
Range: Common throughout New England, ranging north into Canada, south to Georgia, and west to the Pacific Coast, having the broadest distribution of any North American cherry.
Similar Species: Black Cherry has thicker, narrower leaves with brown hairs along the midrib beneath, and the calyx remains on the ripe fruit.
Comments: The fruits of wild trees are rather bitter but are readily consumed by birds; plant breeders have developed cultivars with sweeter fruits.
