Prunus pensylvanica
| Pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica) | |
|---|---|
| |
| Scientific name | Prunus pensylvanica |
| Common names | Pin cherry, fire cherry, red cherry |
| Genus | Prunus |
| Family | Rosaceae |
| Order | Rosales |
| Native range | Subarctic America to the United States |
| Habit | Deciduous tree |
| Fruit | Bright-red drupes, about 4–8 mm, with tart flesh |
| Years to fruit | About 2–5 years in reported stands; site and origin affect timing |
Prunus pensylvanica, commonly called pin cherry, fire cherry or red cherry, is a deciduous tree accepted under that name by Kew and native from subarctic America to the United States.[1][2] It is a cool-temperate fruiting species whose small, acidic cherries are more suited to jelly and syrup than to sweet fresh eating.[3]
Description[edit | edit source]
Pin cherry is a rapidly growing, shade-intolerant tree with shallow lateral roots. Its small white flowers appear over a broad spring-to-early-summer period, and its light-red drupes are typically about 5–7 mm across with thin, acid flesh.[3] A regional flora describes bright-red fruit 4–8 mm wide with a 4–5 mm stone and juicy tart flesh.[4] The species commonly colonizes openings and disturbed ground, and individual stands are short-lived, often maturing over roughly 20–40 years.[3]
Cultivation[edit | edit source]
Soil and water[edit | edit source]
In its northern range, pin cherry grows on rocky, sandy, moist loamy and rich soils; well-drained moist ground is a useful cultivation target.[3][2] Keep the root zone evenly supplied with moisture during active growth, but avoid persistent saturation. Its shallow lateral roots make reliable drainage and careful watering more important than deep, heavy soil.
Sun and humidity[edit | edit source]
Give pin cherry full sun and good airflow. The species is shade-intolerant, and North Carolina guidance identifies cooler summers as a limitation for its performance.[3] A site with open exposure and a moisture-retentive but aerated root zone better matches its documented habitat than a hot, stagnant or chronically wet position.
Seasonal changes[edit | edit source]
Flowering extends from late March to early July in the USDA account, while fruit ripens mainly from July through September.[3] Treat those as a northern-range seasonal pattern rather than a fixed calendar for every climate. In a Novosibirsk arboretum study, flowering and fruiting began at ages 4–5, and abundant fruiting was observed in middle-aged trees around 20 years; those values belong to the local introduction and should not be used as a universal schedule.[5] Maintain moisture through the growing season and reduce irrigation as cool weather slows growth, without leaving shallow roots waterlogged.
Propagation[edit | edit source]
Pin cherry seed has deep dormancy. A full applied seed-production study used a 24-hour soak, 30 days alternating five days at 5 °C and five days at 30 °C, 60–90 days at 5 °C, then 10 days alternating 12-hour periods at 5 °C and 30 °C; that treatment exceeded 75 percent germination in the study, whereas ordinary warm/cold treatments produced less than 10 percent.[6] The regimen is a demanding, provenance-sensitive nursery protocol rather than a guarantee for every seed lot.
The USDA silvics account describes storage at 1–3 °C for up to 10 years, ready suckering, and root cuttings. Approximately 10 cm root cuttings rooted at 33 percent under favorable greenhouse conditions in that account.[3] Root suckers can therefore provide a practical clonal route where an established plant is available, while seed remains the straightforward route for genetic diversity.
Flowering, fruiting, and harvest[edit | edit source]
Fruit production can begin early in favorable natural stands: the USDA account records fruiting as early as age 2 in Pennsylvania, while the Novosibirsk introduction began flowering and fruiting at ages 4–5.[3][6] These contrasting observations show why propagation history, provenance and climate should be recorded instead of assigning one universal bearing age.
Harvest the red drupes as they color and soften during the local late-summer window. They are small and thin-fleshed, so collecting enough for processing is more practical than treating pin cherry as a large-fleshed dessert cherry.[3][4]
Fruit and uses[edit | edit source]
The flesh is tart or sour and is used for jelly, jam or syrup.[3][4] Pits and leaves contain cyanogenic compounds, including amygdalin and prunasin in the regional flora account; do not chew or crush the pits, and remove them before cooking or processing.[3][4]
An attributed Reddit household-use discussion describes very sour ripe fruit and a jelly preparation in which the fruit was boiled and strained through cheesecloth to remove skin and pits. Other participants described eating a few fruits or saving seeds. These are individual, species-unverified observations and do not establish general flavor, identity or safety.[8]
Cultivars and selections[edit | edit source]
Named pincherry selections include Jumping Pond and Stockton in a North Carolina extension listing, while a Saskatchewan evaluation names Jumping Pound, Lee #4 and Mary Liss.[2][7] The similar names Jumping Pond and Jumping Pound should not be treated as the same selection without additional documentation.
In the Saskatchewan evaluation, Lee #4 averaged 3.1 kg per plant and yielded at least twice as much as Mary Liss or Jumping Pound. That comparison is limited to the Saskatchewan trial and is not a universal yield ranking; the publisher record does not establish broader differences in fruit quality, climate adaptation, disease response or propagation behavior.[7]
Pests and diseases[edit | edit source]
Black knot and other diseases are documented for pin cherry, along with insect pests in horticultural accounts.[3][5] Keep the crown open, avoid chronically wet soil and inspect shoots and branches regularly, but do not assume that a named selection has disease resistance unless that trait is documented for the particular planting material.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ [2] Prunus pensylvanica (Bird Cherry, Fire Cherry, Pin Cherry, Red Cherry) | NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox.
- ↑ [5] Naturalization of Prunus pensylvanica (Rosaceae) in Novosibirsk, BIO Web of Conferences 11, 00005 (2018), DOI 10.1051/bioconf/20181100005.
- ↑ [6] T. F. Laidlaw (1987), “Drastic Temperature Fluctuation-The Key to Efficient Germination of Pin Cherry,” Tree Planters' Notes 38(3):30–32.
- ↑ [7] Evaluation of growth, yield, and fruit size of chokecherry, pincherry, highbush cranberry, and black currant cultivars in Saskatchewan, Canadian Journal of Plant Science, DOI 10.4141/P04-061.
Image credits[edit | edit source]
- Prunus pensylvanica bark — Halava, file page, CC BY-SA; attribution and share-alike requirements apply as stated on the file page. The summary image is not repeated in a Photos section because no second distinct licensed image was retained.
