Kendall County (IL) Forest Preserve District
Wild Black Cherry
Prunus serotina [C-value 1]
Rose family (Rosaceae)
Blooms
May
The native Wild Black Cherry is common in our area. It prefers full sun to light shade and moist to slightly dry conditions. This woody tree can grow to 80' tall. On older trees, the coarse bark of the trunk becomes brown-black and rough-textured. The smaller branches and twigs produce alternate leaves up to 6" long and 2" across, narrowly lance-shaped and finely toothed with petioles up to 1" long. Elongated racemes of flowers are produced from short leafy branches. Each raceme is 4-6" long and densely packed with flowers about ½" across with 5 white petals. Each flower is replaced by a globoid fleshy drupe ("cherry") about ¼" across that becomes dark red and finally purple-black at maturity.
Wild Black Cherry at Millbrook North Forest Preserve May 15, 2015
Wild Black Cherry at Millbrook North Forest Preserve May 15, 2015
Wild Black Cherry at Hoover Forest Preserve April 30, 2016 (pre-blooming)
Wild Black Cherry trunk at Hoover Forest Preserve April 30, 2016
Viceroy Butterfly on Wild Black Cherry at Millbrook South Forest Preserve July 12, 2015
Wild Black Cherry with "cherries" at Richard Young Forest Preserve August 22, 2015
Wild Black Cherry autumn leaves at Pickerill/Pigott Forest Preserve October 14, 2015
Native Americans used the dried inner bark of Wild Black Cherry in tea or syrup for cough, "blood tonic", fevers, colds, flu, laryngitis, cough, whooping cough, bronchitis, sore throats, asthma, high blood pressure, colic, edema, arthritis, diarrhea, lung ailments, eye inflammation, swollen lymph glands, tuberculosis, pneumonia, inflammatory fever diseases, and dyspepsia. It was also found useful for poor circulation, lack of appetite, and as a mild sedative. The Mohegan tribe allowed the ripe Wild Black Cherry fruits to ferment naturally in a jar about a year and drank the juice to cure dysentery. Warning: the leaves and seeds are poisonous.
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