How do you recognise Sour cherry (Prunus cerasus)?

Leaf

Abraham, Wikimedia · CC BY 4.0

Sour cherry

Prunus cerasus L.

Also known as: Morello cherry, Tart cherry

Family: Rosaceae

3 to 6 m tall

Orchards and gardens

Flowering: April, before or at the same time as the leaves

Full sun

Hardy to about -25°C

❓ How do you recognise this plant?

Unlike the wild cherry (sweet cherry), the sour cherry bears tart fruits used mainly cooked or in liqueur, rarely eaten raw. The wild cherry has sweet fruits and a straighter, more slender trunk; the sour cherry remains bushier, with sour fruits.

🍃 Leaves

Elliptic to obovate, toothed, dark green, smaller than those of the wild cherry

🌸 Flowers

White, in small umbels, appearing early in spring

🍎 Fruits

Small bright red, tart drupe (morello cherry)

🪵 Bark

Reddish-brown, marked with horizontal lenticels

🗺️ Distribution

Cultivated throughout temperate Europe, often naturalised

🐝 Value for pollinators

Nectar-rich spring flowering, visited by bees

✂️ Horticultural uses

Orchard fruit tree, grown for its tart fruits used in jam or liqueur (guignolet, kirsch)

⚠️ Possible toxicity

Fruit flesh edible and tart; stone, leaves and bark contain amygdalin (a cyanide precursor), toxic in large quantities

⚠️ Look-alike species

Sour cherry

Prunus cerasus

Wild cherry

Prunus avium

The wild cherry has sweet fruits and a straighter, more slender trunk; the sour cherry remains bushier, with sour fruits.

🌿 Other Rosaceae to discover

ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.

🌱 This database is constantly evolving — species and information are added and corrected regularly. Spotted a mistake? Report it below.