Seasonal Wild Flowers

Bird Cherry

Latin name

Prunus padus

Other names

Bird cherry, European Bird Cherry

Family

Rosaceae

Flowering season

April and May

English distribution

It is found throughout the country but is less common in the

Southwest.

For a map see the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland –

Bird Cherry

Habitat

It is native in the UK where it grows in a variety of damp

habitats and on a range of soil types except where it is

acid or very dry. It is also widely planted and it is difficult to

distinguish between native and alien trees.

It has increased markedly in the last 50 years or so.

Description

Bird Cherry is a showy, deciduous shrub or small tree

growing up to 25m.

Between 10 and 40 flowers are in racemes of up to 15cm.

Racemes are initially erect and then droop.

Individual flowers are up to 16mm across and comprise 5

white irregularly notched petals and triangular sepals.

There are numerous stamens with white filaments and cream

stamens.

There is a saucer-shaped hypanthium, a single green carpel,

a bottle-shaped style and a capitate stigma.

The fruit is a green drupe up to 8mm which turns black as it

matures in July and August.

The sepals fall off as the drupe ages. Fruits are.unpalatable

for humans but very desirable to birds, hence the name.

The leaves are elliptical or obovate, serrate and up to 10cm.

They turn yellow and red in the autumn.

Twigs are grey with white lenticels.

The trunk has dark brown peeling bark.

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Bird cherry tree in a churchyard, West Dorset

Racemes of flowers

Flowers in erect raceme. Acute, triangular sepals

Newly=open flower:5 petals, stamens and stigma

Close-up of stamens - cream anthers, white filaments,

Irregularly notched petals

Yellow-green hypanthium. carpel, green style and

cream. capitate stigma

Fruits - drupes, before blackening

Masture black fruits

Close-up of fruits

Underside of veind, serrate leaf

Upper side of leaf

Leaves in Autumn

Twig with white lenticels

Trunk with brown peeling bark