Prunus cerasus | |
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1897 illustration [1] | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Rosales |
Family: | Rosaceae |
Genus: | Prunus |
Subgenus: | Prunus subg. Cerasus |
Species: | P. cerasus |
Binomial name | |
Prunus cerasus L. 1753 | |
Synonyms [2] | |
List
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Prunus cerasus (sour cherry , [3] tart cherry, or dwarf cherry [4] ) is a species of Prunus in the subgenus Cerasus (cherries), native to much of Europe, North Africa and West Asia. It is closely related to the sweet cherry ( Prunus avium ), but has a fruit that is more acidic. Its sour pulp is edible. [5]
The tree is smaller than the sweet cherry (growing to a height of 4–10 m), has twiggy branches, and its crimson-to-near-black cherries are borne upon shorter stalks. There are two main varieties (groups of cultivars) of the sour cherry: the dark-red Morello cherry and the lighter-red Amarelle cherry. [6]
Prunus cerasus, a tetraploid with 2n=32 chromosomes, is thought to have originated as a natural hybrid between Prunus avium and Prunus fruticosa in the Iranian Plateau or Eastern Europe where the two species come into contact. Prunus fruticosa is believed to have provided its smaller size and sour tasting fruit. The hybrids then stabilized and interbred to form a new, distinct species. [7]
Cultivated sour cherries were selected from wild specimens of Prunus cerasus from around the Caspian and Black Seas, and were known to the Greeks in 300 BC. They were also used by Persians and the Romans who introduced them into Britain long before the 1st century AD.[ citation needed ]
In England, their cultivation was popularized in the 16th century in the time of Henry VIII. They became a common crop amongst Kentish growers, and by 1640 over two dozen named cultivars were recorded.[ citation needed ]
Before the Second World War there were more than fifty cultivars of sour cherry in cultivation in England; today, however, few are grown commercially, and despite the continuation of named cultivars such as 'Kentish Red', 'Amarelles', 'Griottes' and 'Flemish', only the generic Morello is offered by most nurseries. This is a late-flowering variety, and thus misses more frosts than its sweet counterpart and is therefore a more reliable cropper. The Morello cherry ripens in mid to late summer, toward the end of August in southern England. It is self-fertile, and would be a good pollenizer for other varieties if it did not flower so late in the season.[ citation needed ]
Sour cherries require similar cultivation conditions to pears, that is, they prefer a rich, well-drained, moist soil, although they demand more nitrogen and water than sweet cherries. Trees will do badly if waterlogged, but have greater tolerance of poor drainage than sweet varieties. As with sweet cherries, Morellos are traditionally cultivated by budding onto strong growing rootstocks, which produce trees too large for most gardens, although newer dwarfing rootstocks such as Colt and Gisella are now available. During spring, flowers should be protected, and trees weeded, mulched and sprayed with natural seaweed solution. This is also the time when any required pruning should be carried out (note that cherries should not be pruned during the dormant winter months). Morello cherry trees fruit on younger wood than sweet varieties, and thus can be pruned harder. They are usually grown as standards, but can be fan trained, cropping well even on cold walls, or grown as low bushes. [8]
Sour cherries suffer fewer pests and diseases than sweet cherries, although they are prone to heavy fruit losses from birds. In summer, fruit should be protected with netting. When harvesting fruit, they should be cut from the tree rather than risking damage by pulling the stalks.[ citation needed ]
Unlike most sweet cherry varieties, sour cherries are self fertile or self pollenizing (sometimes inaccurately referred to as self-pollinating). Two implications of this are that seeds generally run true to the cultivar, and that much smaller pollinator populations are needed because pollen only has to be moved within individual flowers. In areas where pollinators are scarce, growers find that stocking beehives in orchards improves yields. [8]
Russia | 297,200 |
Poland | 183,800 |
Ukraine | 180,240 |
Turkey | 176,770 |
Serbia | 164,446 |
Iran | 134,055 |
United States | 110,770 |
World | 1,593,025 |
In 2022, world production of sour cherries was 1.6 million tonnes, led by Russia with 19% of the total (table). Other major producers were Poland, Ukraine, and Turkey.
Dried sour cherries are used in cooking including soups, pork dishes, cakes, tarts, and pies. Also used to make a jam/fruit spread.[ citation needed ]
Sour cherries are particularly common in Turkey, especially in the form of vişne suyu (sour cherry nectar), a widely-consumed beverage, and vişne reçeli (sour cherry jam), often eaten as part of a traditional breakfast or mixed into plain yoghurt.[ citation needed ]
Sour cherries or sour cherry syrup are used in liqueurs and drinks, such as the Romanian vișinată or the Portuguese ginjinha. In Iran, Turkey, Greece and Cyprus, sour cherries are prized for making spoon sweets by slowly boiling pitted sour cherries and sugar; the syrup thereof is used for sharbat-e Albalou, vişne şurubu or vyssináda, a beverage made by diluting the syrup with ice-cold water. A particular use of sour cherries is in the production of kriek lambic, a cherry-flavored variety of a naturally fermented beer made in Belgium. [10] [11] In Germany and Austria, sour cherries are used for desserts such as the donauwelle.
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy drupe.
Prunus is a genus of trees and shrubs in the flowering plant family Rosaceae that includes plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, being native to the North American temperate regions, the neotropics of South America, and temperate and tropical regions of Eurasia and Africa, There are about 340 accepted species as of March 2024. Many members of the genus are widely cultivated for their fruit and for decorative purposes. Prunus fruit are drupes, or stone fruits. The fleshy mesocarp surrounding the endocarp is edible while the endocarp itself forms a hard, inedible shell called the pyrena. This shell encloses the seed, which is edible in some species, but poisonous in many others. Besides being eaten off the hand, most Prunus fruit are also commonly used in processing, such as jam production, canning, drying, and the seeds for roasting.
A maraschino cherry is a preserved, sweetened cherry, typically made from light-colored sweet cherries such as the Royal Ann, Rainier, or Gold varieties. In their modern form, the cherries are first preserved in a brine solution usually containing sulfur dioxide and calcium chloride to bleach the fruit, then soaked in a suspension of food coloring, sugar syrup, and other components.
Prunus serrulata or Japanese cherry is a species of cherry tree that grows naturally in Japan, China, Korea, and Vietnam, and it also refers to a cultivar produced from Prunus speciosa, a cherry tree endemic in Japan. Historically, the Japanese have developed many cultivars by selective breeding of cherry trees, which are produced by the complicated crossing of several wild species, and they are used for ornamental purposes all over the world. Of these, the cultivars produced by complex interspecific hybrids based on the Oshima cherry are also known as the Cerasus Sato-zakura Group.
Prunus japonica, also called Japanese bush cherry, Oriental bush cherry, or Korean bush cherry is a shrub species in the genus Prunus that is widely cultivated for ornamental use. Its native range extends from Central China through to the Korean peninsula.
Dwarf cherry as a name has been used for at least three species of small cherry trees:
The marasca cherry is a type of sour Morello cherry known only from cultivation. It is reputed to attain its finest flavor when grown in coastal Croatia.
The Evans Cherry also sold under the name 'Bali', is a sour cherry cultivar rediscovered in an old orchard near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and is significant because cherries were not considered viable in the harsh climate of the Canadian prairies, yet the specimen, discovered by Ieuan Evans, had been growing there since the 1920s. Grown on its own rootstock and self-pollinating, the Evans Cherry displays white blossoms in spring and bears abundant fruit.
Ginjinha, or simply ginja, is a Portuguese liqueur made by infusing ginja berries in alcohol (aguardente) and adding sugar together with other ingredients, with cloves and/or cinnamon sticks being the most common. Ginjinha is served in a shot form with a piece of the fruit in the bottom of the cup. It is a favourite liqueur of many Portuguese and a typical drink in Lisbon, Alcobaça, Óbidos, Marvão, Covilhã and Algarve. The Serra da Estrela ginja, centered around Covilhã, has protected designation of origin.
Griotte de Kleparow is a dark-red morello, or Griotte, type of cherry which originated from the outskirts of Lviv, modern Ukraine.
Prune dwarf virus (PDV) is an economically important plant pathogenic virus affecting Prunus species globally. PDV is found worldwide due to easy transmission through seed, pollen, and vegetative propagation. The virus is in the family Bromoviridae an important family of plant RNA viruses containing six genera, including Alfamovirus, Ilarvirus, Bromovirus, Amularvirus, Oleavirus, and Cucumovirus. PDV belongs to the genera Ilarvirus. It can cause dwarfism of leaves on certain prune and plum plants. It will also cause yellows in sour cherry, especially when present with Prunus necrotic ringspot virus. There are no known transmission vectors, though the pollen of infected cherry trees has been found to infect other cherry trees a small percent of the time.
Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) is a plant pathogenic virus causing ring spot diseases affecting species of the genus Prunus, as well as other species such as rose and hops. PNRSV is found worldwide due to easy transmission through plant propagation methods and infected seed. The virus is in the family Bromoviridae and genus Ilarvirus. Synonyms of PNRSV include European plum line pattern virus, hop B virus, hop C virus, plum line pattern virus, sour cherry necrotic ringspot virus, and peach ringspot virus.
Prunus fruticosa, the European dwarf cherry, dwarf cherry, Mongolian cherry or steppe cherry is a deciduous, xerophytic, winter-hardy, cherry-bearing shrub. It is also called ground cherry and European ground cherry, but is not to be confused with plants in the distinct "Groundcherry" genus of Physalis.
Prunus tomentosa is a species of Prunus native to northern and western China, Korea, Mongolia, and possibly northern India. Common names for Prunus tomentosa include Nanjing cherry, Korean cherry, Manchu cherry, downy cherry, Shanghai cherry, Ando cherry, mountain cherry, Chinese bush cherry, and Chinese dwarf cherry.
The Montmorency cherry is a variety of sour cherry grown in Europe, Canada, United States, particularly in the Grand Traverse Bay region of Northwest Michigan, Door County, Wisconsin, and parts of Indian Administered Kashmir. Montmorency cherries are part of the lighter-red Amarelle cultivar of sour cherries, rather than the darker-red Morello cultivar. Michigan produces over 90,000 tons of Montmorency cherries each year.
Cherry Bounce is a type of liqueur made by infusing old French brandy with sour Prunus cerasus, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar. Some recipes use rum, whiskey or vodka instead of brandy.
Prunus avium, commonly called wild cherry, sweet cherry or gean is a species of cherry, a flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, Anatolia, Maghreb, and Western Asia, from the British Isles south to Morocco and Tunisia, north to the Trondheimsfjord region in Norway and east to the Caucasus and northern Iran, with a small isolated population in the western Himalaya. The species is widely cultivated in other regions and has become naturalized in North America, New Zealand and Australia.
Prunus subg. Cerasus is a subgenus of Prunus. Species of the subgenus have a single winter bud per axil. The flowers are usually in small corymbs or umbels of several together, but some species have short racemes. The fruit is a drupe and has no obvious groove along the side. The subgenus is native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with two species in North America, four in Europe, two in North Africa, and the remainder in Asia.
The Balaton cherry is a cultivar of sour cherry native to Hungary, where it was originally named Újfehértói Fürtös. It was introduced to the United States in the 1980s and is now grown there commercially.
Prunus × eminens or Prunus eminens is a species of small cherry tree native to central Europe. It is a naturally occurring hybrid of sour cherry, Prunus cerasus, and dwarf cherry, Prunus fruticosa, occasionally found where their ranges overlap. Like its parents, it is a tetraploid with 32 chromosomes. It is forming a hybrid swarm with, and threatening to extirpate, P. fruticosa in much of its western range through genetic pollution.