Black cherry — 1 of 4 · Photo: “Amerikaanse vogelkers Prunus serotina closeup” by Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized by Vanagrha; shared under the same licence.

Black cherry, photo 2 — 2 of 4 · Photo: Douglas Goldman, iNaturalist, CC BY-SA Resized by Vanagrha; shared under the same licence.

Black cherry

Prunus serotina Ehrh.

light: Full sun
water: Medium
tall: 23 m
wide: 13 m

Rosaceae

Also called Rum cherry, Wild black cherry, Black Cherry, American bird cherry, Rum cherry, black cherry

Formerly Cerasus serotina, Padus serotina

When it flowers

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Flowers December to April in the tropics.

Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.

PetsNC State Extension lists it as toxic to dogs, cats and horses (25 Oct 2026)

PeopleNC State Extension lists it as poisonous (fruits, leaves, seeds) (25 Oct 2026)

If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.

Something wrong with it?

About it

Grows as: TreeKew's checklist, not yet checked
Climate: TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
Wild in: W. Canada to NW. U.S.A., E. Canada to GuatemalaKew's checklist, not yet checked
Light: Full sun (6 h or more)Read from NC State Extension, one source
Height: 18 m to 27 mRead from UF/IFAS Extension, one source
Spread: 11 m to 15 mRead from UF/IFAS Extension, one source
Water: Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension, one source
Flowers: White, pinkRead from NC State Extension, one source
Coldest it survives: -45.6 °C (USDA zone 2a)Read from NC State Extension, one source

Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.

Grow it with

Suggested by a rule, not by a gardener: same climate (kew), flowering when this plant does not (inaturalist), and a different shape.

In other languages (12)

Spanish: Capulín, Cerezo negro americano, Cerezo criollo
root: PRUSER, E:i’, Ittotalikcho
French: Cerisier d'automne, Cerisier noir, Cerisier tardif
Portuguese: cerejeira-negra
Dutch: Amerikaanse Vogelkers, amerikaanse vogelkers, Amerikaanse vogelkers
Czech: střemcha pozdní
Polish: czeremcha amerykańska
Danish: Glansbladet hæg
Estonian: hilistoomingas
Norwegian Bokmål: romhegg
Russian: Черёмуха поздняя, Черемуха поздняя
Lithuanian: Vėlyvoji ieva

Where this comes from

iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
UF/IFAS Extension, read 2026-10-26, fact, cited
Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 3.0
iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
3D model: Prunus serotina (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own

A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.