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, which includes the fruits plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds.
In botany, blossoms are the flowers of stone fruit trees and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely for a period of time in spring.
Fruit tree propagation is usually carried out vegetatively (non-sexually) by grafting or budding a desired variety onto a suitable rootstock.
Prunus cerasus 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, but has a fruit that is more acidic. Its sour pulp is edible.
The cherry blossom, also known as a Japanese cherry or Sakura, is the flower of trees in the genus Prunus or the Prunus subgenus Cerasus. Wild species of the cherry tree are widely distributed, mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. They are common in East Asia, especially in Japan. They generally refer to ornamental cherry trees, not cherry trees grown for their fruit. The cherry blossom is considered the national flower of Japan.
Prunus cerasifera is a species of plum known by the common names cherry plum and myrobalan plum. It is native to Southeast Europe and Western Asia, and is naturalised in the British Isles and scattered locations in North America. Also naturalized in parts of SE Australia where it is considered to be a mildly invasive weed of bushland near urban centers.
Prunus serrulata or Japanese cherry is a species of cherry tree that grows naturally in Japan, China, and Korea, 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 emarginata, the bitter cherry or Oregon cherry, is a species of Prunus native to western North America, from British Columbia south to Baja California, and east as far as western Wyoming and New Mexico. It is often found in recently disturbed areas or open woods on nutrient-rich soil.
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.
Prunus × yedoensis is a hybrid cherry tree between Prunus speciosa as father plant and Prunus pendula f. ascendens as mother. It is a hybrid born in Japan and one of its cultivars, Prunus × yedoensis 'Somei-yoshino' or Yoshino cherry, is one of the most popular and widely planted cherry cultivars in temperate regions around the world today. 'Somei-yoshino' is a clone from a single tree, and has been propagated by grafting all over the world. 'Somei-yoshino' inherits Edo higan's quality of blooming before the leaves unfold and it growing into a large-sized tree. It also inherits the characteristics of the Oshima cherry, which grows rapidly and has white flowers. These characteristics are favored and have become one of the most popular cultivars of cherry trees.
Prunus speciosa, the Oshima cherry, Japanese オオシマザクラ, is native to Izu Ōshima island and the Izu Peninsula on Honshū near Tokyo, Japan.
Prunus itosakura, Prunus subhirtella or Edo higan, is the scientific name for one of the wild species of cherry trees native to Japan, and is also the name given to the cultivars derived from this species. Itosakura means thread cherry, and appeared in historical documents from the Heian period in Japan. The scientific name for the hybrid between this species and Prunus incisa is Prunus × subhirtella. Historically, the Japanese have produced many cultivars from this wild species, and they are also called weeping cherry, autumn cherry, or winter-flowering cherry, because of the characteristics of each cultivar.
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 avium, commonly called wild cherry, sweet cherry, gean, or bird cherry 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 and Australia.
Prunus nipponica, also called Japanese alpine cherry, is a shrub which originates from the islands of Hokkaido and Honshu, Japan. It grows to a height of about 5 meters (16 ft) and can grow in sandy, loamy, and clay soils.
Prunus 'Kanzan' is a flowering cherry cultivar. It was developed in the Edo period in Japan as a result of multiple interspecific hybrids based on the Oshima cherry.
Prunus pseudocerasus or Prunus pseudo-cerasus, the Chinese sour cherry or just Chinese cherry, is a species of cherry native to China and is used worldwide as an ornamental for its early spring cherry blossoms. The fruits of some cultivars are edible.
Prunus canescens, the gray-leaf cherry, is a species of cherry native to China, found in Hubei and Sichuan provinces. A shrubby tree, it grows to about 3 m. It is a parent of a number of hybrid rootstocks for sweet cherries, and occasionally grown as an ornamental for its attractive shiny brown bark.
