496 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



WILD BLACK CHERRY 

 Rum, Cabinet or Black Cherry. 



Primus serotina Ehrh. 

 Padus serotina (Ehrh.) Agardh. 



HABIT A medium sized tree 30-50 ft. in height with a trunk diameter 

 from 8 or 10 inches to 2 feet, becoming much larger in the 

 middle and southern states; branches spreading often more or less 

 zigzag forming an irregular oblong head. 



BARK On young trunks and branches smooth reddish-brown with 

 conspicuous oblong whitish horizontal lenticels, easily peeled off in thin 

 dark papery layers exposing the bright green bark below, becoming 

 with age very much roughened by irregular, close, dark, scaly plates 

 with upturned edges. 



TWIGS Rather slender, smooth, reddish-brown, more or less covered 

 with a grayish skin easily rubbed off; crushed twigs with odor and taste 

 of bitter almonds. LENTICELS numerous, pale, minute, rounded dots, 

 becoming horizontally elongated and more conspicuous on later growth. 

 PITH of recent growth, generally whitish. 



LEAF-SCARS Alternate, more than 2-ranked, small, semi-oval to 

 inversely triangular, raised. STIPULE-SCARS inconspicuous or appa- 

 rently absent. BUNDLE-SCARS 3, often inconspicuous. 



BUDS Medium sized, ovate, blunt to sharp-pointed, about 4 mm. 

 long, smooth, bright reddish-brown, divergent or sometimes somewhat 

 flattened and appressed; terminal bud slightly larger than lateral buds. 

 BUD-SCALES about 4 visible, broadly ovate, more or less rounded 

 and keeled on the back, of nearly uniform color or with darker edges, 

 sometimes partially covered with a grayish skin, similar to that usual on 

 the twigs. 



FRUIT A drupe about the size of a pea, ripening in summer in 

 drooping elongated clusters. 



COMPARISONS The Wild Black Cherry in its young growth 

 resembles the Choke Cherry but grows to be a good sized tree and 

 develops a very rough scaly bark. Further the lenticels tend to be 

 whitish and elongate horizontally with age, the buds are smaller and 

 redder and their scales are not white-margined. From the cultivated 

 Sweet and Sour Cherries the Black Cherry is distinguished by absence 

 of fruiting spurs, by smaller buds and by the character of its bark. 



DISTRIBUTION In all sorts of soils and exposures; open places and 

 rich woods. Nova Scotia to Lake Superior; south to Florida; west to 

 North Dakota, Kansas, and Texas, extending through Mexico, along the 

 Pacific coast of Central America to Peru. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine not reported north of Oldtown (Penob- 

 ecot county); frequent throughout the other New England states. 



WOOD Light, strong, rather hard, close straight-grained, with a 

 satiny surface, light brown or red, with thin yellow sapwood of 10-12 

 layers of annual growth; largely used in cabinet-making and the 

 interior finish of houses. The bark, especially that of the branches and 

 roots, yields hydrocyanic acid used in medicine as a tonic and sedative. 

 The ripe fruit is used to flavor alcoholic liquors whence one of the 

 common names. 



