Fire Cherry
(Wide & Flat: Alternate Arrangement) |
| Also called pin cherry, this shrub or small tree reaches 40',
the trunk usually short and branches forming a narrow flat-topped crown. Common
in the mountainous sections of the state, rare in the southeast and southwest
corners. A valuable reforestation species after fire or limbering clears the land.
It provides shade for seedlings of other tree species which follow it in succession
and the fruits are food for many birds and small mammals. Deer browse the twigs
and young leaves.j |
Prunus virginiana L
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| Leaves |
| Alternate, simple, 3" - 5" long, with tapering
or rounded base and sharp-pointed tips, sharply toothed margins, shining green
and smooth on both sides. |
| Twigs |
| Slender, smooth, glossy bright red, sometimes with a thin
grayish coating, marked with numerous pale conspicuous lenticels which become
horizontally elongated. |
| Fruit |
| Juicy, light red drupes ¼" in diameter, tipped
with parts of the persistent style, thin-skinned with sour flesh, maturing in
early fall. Flowers in May, white, about ½" across, in clusters of
4 or 5. |
| Bark |
| Young trunks reddish brown, rather smooth with large horizontally
elongated lenticels, older trunks roughened but not fissured. The outer bark peels
off in thin film-like layers revealing green inner bark. |
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