What Does a Cherry Tree Look Like? An Introduction to Its Latest Morphological Characteristics
The cherry tree is the collective name for several species of plants in the genus Cerasus of the family Rosaceae. It is a deciduous small tree. In China, varieties such as early cherry, late cherry, weeping cherry, and Yunnan cherry are commonly found. Late cherry is relatively widely used in domestic planting and landscaping; it can be planted in groups to form groves, and can also be planted on hillsides, in courtyards, along roadsides, and in front of buildings. According to documentary evidence, more than 2,000 years ago during the Qin and Han dynasties, cherry trees were already cultivated in Chinese imperial gardens. By the Tang dynasty, they had commonly appeared in private courtyards. At that time, as envoys from many nations came to pay tribute, Japanese visitors brought cherry trees back to Japan, where they have a history of more than 1,000 years.
The cherry tree is 4 to 16 m tall, with gray bark. The branchlets are pale purplish brown and hairless; the young branches are green and sparsely covered with soft hairs. Winter buds are ovate and hairless. The leaves are elliptic-ovate or obovate, 5 to 12 cm long and 2.5 to 7 cm wide, with a gradually pointed or abruptly caudate-acuminate apex, a rounded or rarely cuneate base, and sharply doubly serrate margins; the teeth are gradually pointed and bear small glands. The upper surface is dark green and hairless, while the lower surface is pale green and sparsely covered with soft hairs along the veins, with 7 to 10 pairs of lateral veins. The petiole is 1.3 to 1.5 cm long, densely covered with soft hairs, and has 1 to 2 glands at the tip or sometimes no glands. The stipules are lanceolate, with pinnately lobed glandular teeth, covered with soft hairs, and fall early.
The inflorescence of the cherry tree is umbellate-racemose, with a very short common peduncle, bearing 3 to 4 flowers that open before the leaves; the flowers are 3 to 3.5 cm in diameter. The involucre is brown, elliptic-ovate, 6 to 7 mm long and 4 to 5 mm wide, sparsely covered with soft hairs on both surfaces. The bracts are brown, spoon-shaped and oblong, about 5 mm long and 2 to 3 mm wide, with glands along the margins. The pedicel is 2 to 2.5 cm long and covered with short soft hairs. The calyx tube is tubular, 7 to 8 mm long and about 3 mm wide, covered with soft hairs. The sepals are triangular-ovate, about 5 mm long, with a gradually pointed apex and glandular teeth along the margins. The petals are white or pink, elliptic-ovate, with a concave apex and entire, bifid margins. There are about 32 stamens, shorter than the petals. The base of the style is sparsely covered with soft hairs. The drupe is nearly spherical, black, and the stone surface is slightly ridged. The flowering period is April, and the fruiting period is May.
The cherry tree is native to the temperate Himalayan region of the Northern Hemisphere, including Japan, northern India, the Yangtze River basin of China, Taiwan, China, and Korea. It is cultivated all over the world, and Japanese cherry is the most famous. There are about 200 or more cherry varieties worldwide. In China, cherry trees are mainly distributed in Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Jiangxi, Beijing, Tianjin, Hubei, Shanxi, and other places.
The cherry tree is a temperate and subtropical tree species. It likes sunlight and warm, humid climatic conditions, and has a certain degree of cold resistance. It is not demanding about soil and is suitable for growing in loose, fertile, well-drained sandy loam, but it is not tolerant of saline-alkali soil. Its root system is relatively shallow, and it dislikes waterlogged low-lying land. It has a certain tolerance to cold and drought, but it is weak against smoke and wind, so it is not suitable for planting in coastal areas with typhoons.
The cherry tree is an important flowering tree species in early spring and is widely used for ornamental gardening. It can be planted in groups to form groves, and can also be planted on hillsides, in courtyards, along roadsides, and in front of buildings. When in full bloom, the flowers are abundant and gorgeous, and the whole tree is splendid, like clouds and rosy clouds, extremely spectacular. It can be planted in large patches to create a “sea of flowers” landscape, dotted in clusters of three or five in green spaces to form brocade-like groups, or planted alone to create the pictorial effect of “a touch of red amid a vast expanse of green.” It can also be used as a street tree along paths, as a hedge, or made into bonsai.