BLACK CHERRY (prunus serotina)
We are lucky to get to see a black cherry tree here at Chesterwood! This beautiful tree typically grows in wide-open spaces, as opposed to forests with thicker canopies.
The black cherry is one of the most important of the eastern deciduous trees. It can grow in many different kinds of soil conditions, no matter how adverse; its roots are resistant to wildfires; and it can regenerate low-nutrient soils, introducing nitrogen and decreasing disease.
Ecological Relationships: Black cherry fruits are an important food source for many songbirds and game birds, as well as eastern chipmunks, squirrels, white-footed mice, red and gray foxes, opossum, raccoons, and black bears. Its flowers attract honey bees, and its extrafloral nectaries are important for ant colonies. Lastly, black cherry trees hosts the caterpillars of more than 450 species of butterflies and moths.
Ecological Threats: Tent caterpillars, cherry scallop shell moths, fluctuating temperatures.
The species has been declining throughout the eastern United States for more than a decade. However, a recent study by Penn State entomologists discovered that black cherry trees are most commonly pollinated by andrenids, also known as “miner bees” – suggesting that new black cherry trees can be cultivated through the encouragement of this beneficial ecological relationship.