Prunus cerasus L.
(W.R.S., D.R.G.)
sour cherry
Deciduous, suckering, rounded tree, 4-6-(10) m high when mature, not armed; trunk short; primary branches ascending; secondary branches spreading, sometimes pendulous. Lf petiole 12-30-(40) mm long, glabrous; blade ± thin, obovate to broadly elliptic, 40-120 × 25-50 mm, short-acuminate or cuspidate at apex, broadly cuneate to rounded at base, glabrous or with a few long hairs above, glabrous below or occasionally with a few hairs at base of lateral veins, 1-2-serrate with teeth blunt (sometimes with a short dark cusp); stipules triangular, acuminate, early deciduous. Fls in umbel-like clusters of (1)-2-4, on very short shoots, not fragrant, pendent; pedicels 10-20 mm long, glabrous. Hypanthium broadly campanulate; sepals triangular, 3-5 mm long, blunt, glabrous and greenish purple, becoming reflexed. Petals 5, spreading, orbicular, 8-12 mm diam., very shallowly emarginate, white. Stamens ± = to petals; filaments whitish. Fr. 10-17 mm diam., globose, glabrous, dark red, sour; stone smooth.
N.: Thames area; S.: N. Canterbury (Glen Wye, Island Hills, Tekoa and Jacks Hill).
Europe 1870
Roadsides, rocky banks, stream margins.
FL Oct-Nov FT Dec-Jan.
The precise distribution of this sp. is uncertain. It probably also occurs wild in Marlborough; there are unconfirmed reports of it from the Ure R. and Waihopai R. areas. As with other cherries, the sour cherry (sometimes referred to as Morello cherry) was presumably introduced early in European settlement for its fr. and seems to have been mainly cultivated near old homesteads in inland Marlborough and Canterbury.
