Bird cherry or Wild cherry: how to tell them apart?
Bird cherry and Wild cherry look alike and are often mixed up. Here is how to tell them apart, feature by feature, with their photos and the details to look for.
⚡ The quick answer
Bird cherry
Prunus padus
Wild cherry
Prunus avium
The bird cherry (Prunus padus) shares with the wild cherry its brown-greyish bark and toothed oval leaves, but its flowers and fruits are gathered in long hanging racemes 10 to 15 cm long, whereas the wild cherry bears them in small clusters or corymbs. Its bark also gives off a characteristic bitter almond smell when cut.
🍃 Leaves
Ovate-pointed, finely toothed, 8 to 10 cm, with small nectar glands on the petiole
Ovate, toothed, tapering tip, two reddish glands at the base of the leaf blade
🌸 Flowers
White, very fragrant and rich in nectar, gathered in long hanging racemes 10 to 15 cm long (unlike the clusters or corymbs of other cherries)
Large white flowers in small clusters, very abundant
🍎 Fruits
Small drupes in hanging racemes, red then glossy black when ripe, with red juice, harsh and astringent in flavour
Small dark red to black cherries, bitter
🪵 Bark
Greyish to dark brown, giving off an unpleasant bitter almond smell when cut
Glossy reddish-brown, peeling in horizontal bands
📏 Size
3 to 10 m tall, as a tree or large multi-stemmed shrub
15 to 25 m tall
🗺️ Habitat
Damp woods, riverside woodland, cool hedges, also planted in parks and gardens
Open woodland, woodland edges, rich soils
⚠️ Toxicity
Fruit flesh is not toxic but harsh and astringent, not very palatable raw; stones rich in cyanogenic glycosides (as in other Prunus), not to be eaten. The bark and leaves give off a characteristic bitter almond smell when damaged.
Leaves, bark and stones contain cyanogenic glycosides, toxic if swallowed in large quantity; the flesh of the fruit is harmless
🔎 And from the Wild cherry side
Wild cherry bears its flowers and fruit in small clusters or corymbs, whereas bird cherry (Prunus padus) holds them in long drooping racemes 10 to 15 cm long — the two share fairly similar brownish-grey bark and ovate toothed leaves.
🌿 Go further
Want to practise spotting these details on real photos? Floraneo offers profiles and quizzes for dozens of look-alike species.
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.