Q: Can you tell from the pictures attached whether or not this a cherry tree ?? I looked at several pictures on line but the leaves of this tree don’t appear to be exactly like the pictures that I looked at.

A: It is a cherry – but not one you’d want to eat. It’s black cherry, Prunus serotina. It only takes one taste sample to find that it’s nowhere near as tasty as grocery cherries.

Birds and other animals do eat the fruit and spread it hither and yon in untended landscapes. Black cherry leaves are the favorite food of spring tent caterpillars.

I wouldn’t consider it to be the best tree for a landscape planting. It’s too messy and coarse-looking.

black cherry

black cherry

black cherry