THE WILD BLACK CHERRY 



THE Black Cherry is one of the best known and most widely distributed of the wild 

 fruit trees. It is found in all kinds of situations, ranging on the north from 

 Nova Scotia to North Dakota, and on the south from Florida to Texas, and 

 even extending into Mexico and Central America. It is generally readily distinguished 

 from the closely related Choke Cherry by its more tree-like form, more slender leaves, and 

 the slightly-rounded serrations of the leaf-margins. When in fruit it is at once known by 

 the shining black color of the small round drupes. 



The leaves of the Black Cherry are of a shining green color on the upper surface 

 and somewhat lighter on the under surface. They hang downward from the horizontal 

 twigs in a very characteristic fashion. In autumn they turn first yellow, then orange, the 

 petioles and midribs becoming a rather brilliant magenta or crimson color. 



The fruit of the Black Cherry is often produced in abundance and serves to attract 

 great numbers of robins and other birds that feed eagerly upon it. The cherries ripen late 

 in summer and have, as compared with the choke cherries, a rather agreeable taste. They 

 were formerly used in making a kind of rum, which gave to the tree as one of its common 

 names that of the Rum Cherry. 



The winter-twigs are rather easily recognized after one has become familiar with 

 their appearance. The bark is reddish brown thickly spotted with round white dots, and 

 the pointed conical buds have smooth, shining, reddish-brown scales. The bark is intensely 

 bitter to the taste, with a very characteristic odor when bruised. 



It is in May or early June that the Black Cherry puts on the crowning glory of its 

 blossoms. The beautiful cylindrical racemes of small white flowers are sure to attract 

 the attention of everyone, even as they attract the visits of innumerable hosts of insects 

 of many orders. 



The chief disadvantages of the Black Cherry for the purposes of the landscape 

 gardener are its liability to attack by insects, especially the familiar tent-caterpillar, and 

 to attack by the fungus which produces the peculiar excrescences on the branches known 

 as black knot. It has, however, so many advantages that it is occasionally worth while to 

 combat these enemies in order to enjoy the beauty of the trees and to use them as a lure 

 to birds. There is generally little difficulty in getting wild seedlings to transplant. One 

 horticultural variety has been developed, a weeping form of doubtful utility. 



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