# Please help me identify this tree **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418 "2021-06-16T19:13:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/1 "2021-06-16T19:13:16Z")
When I planted this tree 20 years ago I thought it was a cherry. It obviously is not. Does anybody have a clue what kind of tree it is? [Tree - Imgur](https://imgur.com/gallery/j7h65i3) You can see the tree in the first image, if you scroll down you see the flowers as they were four weeks ago, then three weeks ago, then you see small fruit building up, and I made the last picture today: most of the berries (?) have fallen, they are easily knocked down by wind, one can still be seen. Later in the summer the berries turn black, they reach a size of about 5-6 mm. In October the leaves turn a beautiful red for a couple of weeks before falling. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/2 "2021-06-16T19:17:44Z")
That looks a lot like a Choke Cherry tree, they grow like weeds around where I grew up. Apparently the more proper name is Prunus virginiana [https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/prunus/virginiana/](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/prunus/virginiana/) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/3 "2021-06-16T19:23:12Z")
I think you are right, thank you very much! So it is a cherry, from the _Prunus_ family, but not as I know cherries in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/4 "2021-06-16T19:25:37Z")
I’m generally poor at plant ID but this is a tree that we played in, ate some of the bitter cherries and made some sort of temporary dye out of. They were all over the neighborhood I grew up in. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/5 "2021-06-16T20:00:17Z")
We often had homemade chokecherry jelly or chokecherry syrup (e.g. for pancakes) at our house growing up. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/6 "2021-06-16T20:44:36Z")
I know GQ is for sober, factual discussion and all… …but allow me to add that chokecherry syrup/jelly is FUCKING DIVINE. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/7 "2021-06-16T20:52:33Z")
Now I’m curious. The tree is moving with us from Brussels to Berlin this winter, and I already have the place to put it sorted out: it will be sunny and shielded from the wind. Then I might have a chance to enjoy a tiny crop, if the birds don’t eat the berries first. Were the tree stands now the berries don’t make to ripeness: one summer storm and they get ripped off (this year we have already had three hefty ones). I like this tree, did I metion I planted it myself from seed? I bought the seeds from a museum shop in NY in my first visit there. I believed the seeds were Japanese cherries, but after a couple of years after the first fruit I realized they aren’t. In my mind I call it my giant bonsai. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/8 "2021-06-16T21:12:11Z")
In another 5 years we’re going to hear about the invasive Choke Cherries of Berlin. They really grew like weeds here. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/9 "2021-06-16T21:31:00Z")
I hope not! Fortunately, a city is not the ideal place to start an invasion when you are a plant. Invading balconies is not a good strategy. Looking at their distribution I reckon that they are frost resistant in winter and can stand heat in summer, right? Hmmm… If birds carry the seeds some 30 km, it could work. But city birds don’t usually have such a range. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/10 "2021-06-16T23:26:43Z")
Looks like a Cherry Laurel ( _Prunus laurocerasus_)- [https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/prunus-laurocerasus/](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/prunus-laurocerasus/) ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/11 "2021-06-17T00:14:38Z")
I can’t be the only one whose first thought was: The Larch. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/mBcTXBhYzfM/hqdefault.jpg "The Larch") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBcTXBhYzfM) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/12 "2021-06-17T01:47:02Z")
> [@Twoflower](#): > > Looks like a Cherry Laurel ( _Prunus laurocerasus_)- > [Prunus laurocerasus (Cherry Laurel, English Laurel) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/prunus-laurocerasus/) The leaves seem very different. Brussels, eh? I was prepared to guess that was a certain neighborhood I know here in San Francisco. Oh well, maybe that means if I ever visit Brussels I’ll feel at home. ---
**Author:** ![oldoaktree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ccd318/32.png) [@oldoaktree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldoaktree)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/13 "2021-06-17T02:22:02Z")
My plant App says it is a black cherry. Aka rum cherry whisky cherry Mountain black cherry American Cherry Prunis serotina ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/14 "2021-06-17T02:42:47Z")
I was going to post that. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/15 "2021-06-17T06:59:54Z")
The leaves are different, I believe _Prunus virginiana_ was correct. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/16 "2021-06-17T07:03:20Z")
> [@oldoaktree](#): > > Prunis serotina That is quite similar, or as Wikipedia teaches me: > Black cherry is closely related to the [chokecherry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chokecherry) ( _P. virginiana_ ); chokecherry, however, tends to be shorter (a shrub or small tree) and has smaller, less glossy leaves. I’ll check how glossy the leaves are when I get back home. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/17 "2021-06-17T07:25:38Z")
But it is now quite a long way away, it is on my balcony, quite close. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-tree/944418/18 "2021-06-17T18:08:22Z")
Both seem to be very close, but if > The chokecherry leaf has a finely serrated margin and is dark green above with a paler underside, while the black cherry leaf has numerous blunt edges along its margin and is dark green and smooth. then the tree in question seems to me closer to the chokeberry. Maybe they even hybridize, if they are so close?