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Resources < Wildlife Habitats < Native Plants < Native Plant Database < Prunus serotina

Beautiful, Beneficial Black Cherry
By Leslie Kimel

This spring I could never get anywhere on time because I was constantly spotting interesting plants on the side of the road and having to pull over to take their pictures. One of the plants that attracted my attention again and again was the common black cherry (Prunus serotina)—also known as wild cherry, rum cherry, bird cherry, mountain black cherry, and Virginia prune. In April I discovered a particularly fine black cherry in the park across the street from my house, and all that month I visited it regularly to watch the bees buzzing its fluffy white flowers and the eastern tent caterpillars snuggling in their gossamer beds in its branches. It’s tough to think of a plant that’s busier or better used than black cherry. Or one that’s prettier.

I’ve always been partial to this fast-growing, medium-sized tree. I’m charmed by its oblong, shiny leaves, finely toothed and cherry-scented, and by its plump white flower spikes, which make me think of heavenly cigars. Ripening from red to black in summer, the glossy, tempting little cherries are edible (though the seeds are poisonous); bittersweet and vaguely wine-flavored, they were a childhood favorite.

I’m even fond of eastern tent caterpillars, which are very fond of black cherry trees, their preferred host. Each and every spring of my elementary school career, my friends and I would collect these small velvety creatures as they wandered around the school grounds looking for a safe spot to pupate. During recess we’d sit in the sun and pet them very gently, with one finger, and we’d admire their white stripes and neon-blue spots as they crawled up our arms and across our knees in their gentle, tickling fashion. When the bell rang, we let them go back to their business.

Eastern tent caterpillars feed on the young leaves of their host tree, but they rarely cause any permanent damage. The leaves grow back—no harm done. “The tent caterpillars (and other moths) are not really a problem in a balanced ecosystem,” says professional horticulturalist Terry Tatum, owner of Wildwood Farms, a native plant nursery in Madison, Georgia. “They certainly provide lots of bird food, and the caterpillar hatch is usually timed with spring migration. How fortunate for birds! If the tents are an aesthetic problem in the garden, they are easily removed. In the woods and fields, they are valuable habitat components.”

In other words, don’t let worry over tent caterpillars prejudice you against this amazing tree. Black cherry is one of our most important wildlife food plants. As Sara Stein explains in Noah’s  Garden, her well-known book on ecological gardening, “Not just tent caterpillars, but the larvae of coral hairstreaks, red-spotted purple butterflies, and a batch of lovely others eat black cherry leaves; those punctuation butterflies called question marks and commas enjoy the cherry’s messy, rotting fruits. Sapsuckers drill holes in the bark to release the sweet sap, a service on which other birds rely for carbohydrates. A bird-watcher friend has noted black-billed cuckoos feasting on her wild cherries’ pests.” Wow! According to Guy Sternberg and Jim Wilson’s Landscaping with Native Trees, black cherry feeds 100 species of wildlife with its juicy, high-carbohydrate fruits and is a primary host for over 200 species of butterflies and moths.

Black cherry is valuable to humans, too. Not so long ago, the fruit was a common ingredient in wines and jellies and lent its flavor to a popular liqueur known as cherry bounce. (In case you’d like to whip up your own batch of cherry bounce, here is the basic recipe: Combine black cherries, sugar, and rum or brandy and let the entire mixture stand for six weeks.) Authentic wild cherry cough syrup is still made from extracts of the inner bark of Prunus serotina, and of course, the beautiful wood is used for making fine furniture, cabinets, and veneer.

Black cherry occurs throughout Georgia on a wide range of sites, from moist bottomlands to dry uplands. You’ll see it along roadsides and fencerows and in forest openings; it’s also common on forest edges. Birds do most of the planting.

Black cherries are difficult to find at nurseries, but you can propagate them yourself from seed. Collect seed in August or September and sow in spring after four months of cold stratification. When your seedling is big enough to leave its pot, plant it in full sun and moist to dry, well-drained soil. Trees grow quickly (up to three feet per year in youth!) and can become quite broad and grand if given some space. Since the fruits are abundant and do tend to get a bit messy, black cherry probably isn’t the tree to site near your driveway or patio. Instead, place it at the back of a border or bed.

This common plant provides uncommon benefits. If you already have it on your property, appreciate it. Keep it. Black cherry is a native tree that stops traffic.

Text and photo by Leslie Kimel.