BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Prunus serotina | Black Cherry 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Black cherry is a deciduous, single-stemmed, medium- to large-sized
tree.  In the forest it typically has a large, straight, branch-free
bole with a narrow crown, but in openings it tends to have a shorter
trunk and a broad, irregular crown [26].  In the East, typical black
cherry (var. serotina) may reach 125 feet (38 m) in height and 4 feet
(1.2 m) or more in diameter [17].  Southwestern varieties are typically
much smaller.  Southwestern black cherry (var. rufula) seldom grows
taller than 30 feet (9 m), and escarpment black cherry (var. exima)
taller than 50 feet (15 m) [50].

Black cherry has a shallow and spreading root system.  Most roots occur
within 24 inches (61 cm) of the soil surface [39].  Bark on young stems
is thin, smooth, and reddish-brown to nearly black.  On large trunks the
bark is fissured and scaly but remains thin [20,23].  Black cherry has
simple, 2- to 6-inch-long, thick and leathery leaves [26].  White
flowers occur in 3- to 4-inch-long, oblong-cylindric racemes at the end
of leafy twigs of the season [17].  The fruit is a nearly globular,
one-seeded, purplish-black to black, 0.5 inch (1.2 cm) diameter drupe
[11,20].  The seed is an oblong-ovoid stone about 0.33 inch (0.75 cm)
long [59].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Undisturbed State: Phanerophyte (mesophanerophyte)
   Undisturbed State: Phanerophyte (microphanerophyte) var. rufula
   Burned or Clipped State:  (Hemicryptophyte)


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Seed production:  In natural stands maximum seed production occurs on
30- to 100-year-old trees.  Some seed is produced almost every year,
with good crops produced at 1- to 5-year intervals [39].  In
Pennsylvania, large seed crops occur about every other year [8].  There
are about 4,800 cleaned seeds per pound (10,560/kg) [39].

Dispersal:  Seeds are dispersed by gravity, birds, and mammals.  The
fruits fall shortly after ripening in late summer or fall.  Seeds not
dispersed by animals generally land near the parent tree.  Thus the
abundance of seedlings in the understory is related to the number and
distribution of seed trees in the overstory.  Because of animal
dispersal, however, black cherry seedlings are often abundant in stands
with no or few seed-producing black cherry trees [1,15,29,41,51].
Germination tests show that black cherry seeds that pass through the
digestive tracts of passerine birds successfully germinate after proper
cold stratification, and have higher germination rates than undigested
seeds [30,51].

Seed quality:  Usually over 90 percent of seeds are sound [8,59].  

Dormancy and germination:  Black cherry seeds require cold
stratification to germinate.  This occurs as seeds overwinter on the
forest floor [39].  Black cherry exhibits delayed germination:  seeds
from one crop germinate over a period of 3 years.  Of seed artifically
sown and buried 1 inch below the soil surface in a northern hardwood
stand in Pennsylvania, 22, 42, and 4 percent germinated the first,
second, and third year, respectively [36].  In another germination
study, 10, 50, and 25 percent germinated 1, 2, and 3 years after burial,
respectively [62].  Delayed germination allows black cherry to bank
large amounts of seed in the forest floor.  There are typically hundreds
of thousands of black cherry seeds stored in the soil of black
cherry-maple stands in Pennsylvania in any given year [36].  Each spring
about one-half of these germinate.

Black cherry's moisture and light requirements for germination are not
as exacting as those of its associates [44].  However, moist seedbeds
ensure good germination. Seeds germinate in loose soil and forest
litter, but germination is somewhat higher in litter than mineral soil
[39,44].

Seedling growth and survival:  Seedlings typically grow to a height of 2
to 4 inches (5-10 cm) 30 days after germination.  In dense shade, they
grow very slowly, sometimes reaching 6 inches (15 cm) in height in 3 or
4 years, but die thereafter unless released [39].  An understory of tiny
black cherry seedlings is common in numerous mixed deciduous forests.
If the canopy is opened due to windthrow, harvest, or other disturbance,
the seedlings survive well and grow rapidly in full sunlight [39].

Vegetative reproduction:  Black cherry sprouts vigorously from the stump
following cutting or fire [32,55].  Sprouting frequency of stumps
remains high, probably over 90 percent, for trees up to about 60 years
of age [32].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Black cherry occurs in numerous mesic woods and second-growth hardwood
forests in the eastern United States and Canada.  It is also common in
old fields and along fence rows.  It grows on a variety of soil types,
textures, and drainages but is most abundant on mesic sites [39].  Black
cherry attains its greatest abundance on the Allegheny Plateau, where it
is found on nearly all soil types.  In this region it grows somewhat
better on middle and lower slopes of eastern and northern exposures than
on the dry soils associated with south- or west-facing slopes [39].
This mesophytic tendency becomes even more pronounced farther south.  In
the southern Appalachians, black cherry generally grows as scattered
individuals with other mesophytic hardwoods and occasionally forms pure
stands at high elevations [39].  In the Great Smoky Mountains, black
cherry is best represented in cove forests below 5,500 feet (1,676 m)
[63].  In southern Wisconsin, understory black cherry is a conspicuous
component of xeric oak forests and savannas [5].

In the southwestern United States, black cherry is confined to canyons,
valleys, and rich bottomlands [5,57].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Black cherry is a seral, shade-intolerant, gap-phase species [13].  It
rarely occurs in the canopy of late successional deciduous forests but
buried seed and seedlings are often present in the understory.
Seedlings may survive in the understory for about 5 years but then die
or die-back to the stem base unless released [5,39].  Seedlings that die
are soon replaced because of the abudance of buried seed.  Any
disturbance which opens the canopy will release this bank of suppressed
seedlings.  Once released, young black cherry grow rapidly and quickly
fill the gap, overtopping shade-tolerant associates.

Because of its abundant soil-stored seeds and prolific sprouting
ability, black cherry dominates secondary succession following logging,
fire, or wind-throw [44].  The Society of American Forester's black
cherry - maple cover type (SAF 28) is a second-growth or intermediate
successional stage created by widespread clearcutting at the turn of the
century.  This type is successional to beech-hemlock-sugar maple [18].

In bur and white oak (Quercus macrocarpa, Q. alba) woodlands in southern
Wisconsin, black cherry accounts for about one-half of the total number
of seedlings and saplings but is largely absent from the overstory.
Under the shade of the oaks, black cherry saplings repeatedly die-back
to the stem base and resprout.  Black cherry can persist, by maintaining
a small aboveground size, for 40 to 60 years until released [4,5].

Long-distance seed dispersal by birds is important in the establishment
of black cherry along fence rows and into forest openings, old fields,
and pine plantations [2,51].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Black cherry flowers in the spring when the leaves are one-half to fully
expanded.  Fruits develop over the spring and summer and ripen by early
to late summer depending on latitude and climate.  The fruits fall soon
after ripening.  Fruit maturation may vary by as much as 3 weeks on
trees in the same stand [39].  Generalized timing of phenological events
vary regionally as follows [8,39,46,50]:

                  Northeast             Southeast            Southwest

Flowering     late May-early June                           March-April
Fruits Ripe   late Aug-September         June               June-August
Seedfall      late Aug-October       June-early July

Related categories for Species: Prunus serotina | Black Cherry