Blackthorn or Cherry plum: how to tell them apart?
Blackthorn and Cherry plum 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
Blackthorn
Prunus spinosa
Cherry plum
Prunus cerasifera
The blackthorn is thorny and its fruits are small, blue-black and very sour, whereas the cherry plum has no thorns and its fruits, yellow to red, are larger and sweeter.
🍃 Leaves
Small, ovate, finely toothed
Ovate, finely toothed, sometimes purple in ornamental varieties
🌸 Flowers
White, densely covering the twigs before the leaves
White, solitary, opening very early at the end of winter
🍎 Fruits
Small blue-black plums (sloes), very sour, covered in bloom
Small round yellow or red plums, sweet
🪵 Bark
Blackish, twigs thorny and rigid
Greyish-brown, smooth, without thorns unlike the blackthorn
📏 Size
1 to 4 m tall, dense thorny bush
6 to 10 m tall
🗺️ Habitat
Hedgerows, waste ground, woodland edges
Hedgerows, widely planted and naturalised
⚠️ Toxicity
Seeds (stones) and wilted leaves rich in cyanogenic compounds, toxic in large quantities as in other Prunus; the fruits (sloes) are edible after bletting or frost.
Leaves, bark and stones contain cyanogenic glycosides, toxic in large quantities; fruit flesh harmless
🔎 And from the Cherry plum side
The blackthorn is thorny and its fruits are small, blue-black and very sour, whereas the cherry plum has no thorns and its fruits, yellow to red, are larger and sweeter.
🌿 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.