Plants 4 Bees :: Rosaceae :: Photo_Prunus_cerasus

Prunus cerasus

Scientific name	:	Prunus cerasus
Origin	:	The origin of sour cherry is probably western Asia and southeastern Europe. Sour cherry is thought by many experts to be a hybrid between sweet cherry, Prunus avium, and ground cherry, P. fruticosa [7], and retains the chromosomes of both parents (allotetraploid).
Description	:	Sour cherry is a round-headed tree that can get to be 33 ft in height when not pruned. The leaves are generally 2 to 3 inches long but occasionally reach 4 inches in length. They are smooth (glabrous) on the top surface, and soon become so on the bottom surface as well. The flowers are white to occasionally pinkish, and approximately one inch across. The fruits are sour, bright red, nearly spherical (globular) and approximately 0.75 inches across. Because of its hybrid nature, where it has escaped to the wild, sour cherry is a highly variable “species” whose characteristics span the range of its two parents.
Distribution	:	The main commercial sour cherry producing states are Michigan, Utah, New York and Washington. The species occasionally escapes from cultivation and then most often is found in roadside thickets and edges of wooded areas. In addition to the U.S. distribution, Fernald[3] provides the information that the species is found on Prince Edward Island and south to the Michigan border. Fernald only covers the eastern part of North America and it seems quite likely that the species is also found in the wild in some of the other Canadian provinces as well.
Blooming period	:	The species usually blooms in the Lansing, Michigan area in late April and early May.
Importance	:	Sour cherry probably is most important to the beekeeper for stimulating brood rearing in the spring.
Honey potential	:	Crane [1] places sour cherry in her class 2 honey potential classification system (23-45 lbs/acre). She also provides the information that it produces 0.15 - 1.31 mg of sugar/flower/24 hour period. .
Honey	:	While I have as yet not found any data on the quality of honey specifically from sour cherry, Crane[1] seems to suggest that the honey from Malus, Pyrus, and Prunus is light with an excellent delicate flavor and fine aroma and granulates quickly with a soft, fine, grain. Lovell[11], on the other hand, claims that honey from P. virginianum (one of the native North American cherries) is bitter and tastes much like the pit of that species. Lovell[10] claims that honey from P. serotina (another American Cherry) is also bitter.
Additional information	:	It is interesting to note that in its area of origin the number of available cultivars is quite large. In the U. S. and Canada, however, historically there has essentially been only one variety planted, the 400 year old cultivar, ‘Montmorency’. This situation is, however, slowly beginning to change. There are cultivars of P. cerasus that are used as ornamentals in the U. S. Both Howes[6] and Hooper and Taylor[5] infer that single and semi-double flowered varieties are better choices for the beekeeper than double flowered varieties. Pollination considerations Most of the commercial sour cherry cultivars are self-fertile and can be used as pollen donors for other sour cherry varieties, but this is not universally so throughout the species. There are cultivars that are self-incompatible and even cases of cross- incompatibility reminiscent of the situation in sweet cherry. In self-compatible cultivars there is a hint that even self-fruitful cultivars benefit from cross-pollination by a compatible variety[20]. In addition, there appears to be a need for some agent (honey bees for example) to transfer pollen from the anthers to the stigma. Recent data from Michigan indicates that cold, wet weather delays anther maturation (drying and opening), and under these conditions, the stigma may pass through the window of opportunity for pollination before the anthers release their pollen[8]. It would, therefore, seem advisable to have “pollinator varieties” that produce pollen slightly before the main variety normally releases its pollen. Frequently P. avium can act as a pollinator for P. cerasus[8]. For pollination, McGregor[12] states, “For highest production of either sweet or tart cherries as many as five strong colonies of honey bees should be placed on each 5 to 10 acres just before flowering time.” To me it seems strange that he should make no distinction between sweet and sour cherries since, at the time he was writing, one generally needed to be cross-pollinated and the other generally did not. It seems to this author that cross-pollination would require more bees than situations where the pollen only needs to be moved from the anthers to the stigma of the same flower. In cases, however, where there were pollinizer varieties available that released pollen during cold, wet springs when the stigmas of the main sour cherry variety were receptive, the situation would be more like that of sweet cherries.
Reference	:	1. Crane, E. The Flowers Honey Comes From. 1975. In: Honey--A Comprehensive Survey (E. Crane Ed.). Crane, Russak and Company, Inc. New York, NY. 2. Dirr, M. A. 1998. Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses (Fifth Edition). Stipes Publishing L.L.C. Champaign, IL. 3. Fernald, M. L. 1970. Gray's Manual of Botany. 8th ed. D. Van Nostrand Co., New York, NY. 4. Free, J. 1993. Insect Pollination of Crops. Academic Press Limited. London 5. Hooper, T, and M. Taylor. 1988. The Beekeepers Garden. Alphabooks Ltd. London 6. Howes, E. N. 1979. Plants and Beekeeping. Faber and Faber. London. 7. Iezzoni, A. F. 1996. Sour Cherry Cultivars: Objectives and Methods of Fruit breeding and Characteristics of Principal Commercial Cultivars. In: Cherries--Crop Physiology, Production and Uses (Webster, A. D. and N. E. Looney Eds.) CAB International Wallingford, UK. 8. Iezzoni, A. F. 2005. Personal communication. 9. Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium staff. 1976. Hortus Third. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. New York. 10. Lovell, H. B. 1966. Honey Plants Manual. A Practical Field Handbook for Identifying honey Flora. A. I. Root Co. Medina, OH. 11. Lovell, J. H. 1926. Honey Plants of North America. A. I. Root Co. Medina, OH. 12. McGregor, S. E. 1976. Insect Pollination of Cultivated Crop Plants. Agricultural Handbook No 496, Agricultural Research Service. United States Department of Agriculture. Washington DC. This publication is being updated and is available on the web at: gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/book. 13. Morton Arboretum staff. 1990. Woody Plants of The Morton Arboretum. A Handlist of Living Plants in the Outdoor Woody Plant Collections. The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL. 14. Nyéki, J. M. Soltész. 1996. Floral Biology of Temperate Zone Fruit Trees and Small Fruits. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest. 15. Pammel, L. H. and C. M. King Honey Plants of Iowa. Iowa Geological Survey Bulletin No. 7. Iowa Geological Survey, Des Moines, IO. 16. Pellett, F. C. 1978. American Honey Plants. Dadant and Sons, Hamilton, IL. 17. Ramsay, J. 1987. Plants for Beekeeping in Canada and the Northern USA: A Directory of Nectar and Pollen Sources Found in Canada and the Northern USA. International Bee Research Association. London. 18. Roberts, J. The Origins of Fruit and Vegetables. Universe Publishing. New York. 19. Scullen, H. A. and G. A. Vansell. 1942. Nectar and Pollen Plants of Oregon. Oregon Experiment Station Bulleton 412. Oregon State College, Corvallis 20. Thompson, M. 1996. Flowering, Pollination and Fruit Set. In: Cherries--Crop Physiology, Production and Uses (Webster, A. D. and N. E. Looney Eds.) CAB International Wallingford, UK. 21. USDA, NRCS. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA 22. Wilson, W. T., J. O. Moffett and H. D. Harrington. 1958. Nectar and Pollen Plants of Colorado. Colorado State University Experiment Station Bulletin 508-S. Fort Collins, CO. 23. Wyman, D. 1997. Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia. Scribner, New York, NY.