Wild cherry

250 years.

Up to 24 metres tall with spreading lower branches and the rest pointing up.

Its flowers can appear before the leaves and produce an almond-like scent.

Scented white flowers are followed by small green cherries. These turn red then purple when ripe.

Birds quickly strip the fruit and spread the seeds by dropping or swallowing them.

Smooth purplish-brown bark. It has a metallic lustre and horizontal bands of lenticels (small pores).

Europe, North Africa and West Asia.

Often used as rootstock for more productive fruit bearing varieties. 

Its pinkish-brown wood is used to make fine furniture, musical instruments, veneers and smoking pipes. It is prized for turned items such as bowls.