Plant Identification Learning Module:
Fruits & Nuts

Cherry [Prunus avium (sweet), P. cerasus (sour)]

Cherries are small, round, yellow, red or nearly black in color, and borne on long stems. The skin is smooth, shiny and thin. The pit is small, round, and smooth, somewhat like a plum seed. Trees have reddish brown bark with lenticels (horizontal marks). Leaves are alternate, oval and pointed, with doubly serrate margins and small glands on the petiole. The flower is a white raceme, on long pedicels, produced in clusters.


Cherry tree
Leaf of cherry tree
Cherry tree trunk
Cherries
Purdue

Cherry flowers
(cc) 2008, Böhringer Friedrich. This photo is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5.

Pits of cherry fruits
(cc) 2008, Jaymie Koroluk. This photo is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0.