Plant Identification Guide

Plant Identification Guide
Cherry Blossom Blitz
Common characteristics
All of the cherry trees in this guide share the following
characteristcs:
White to pink flowers arranged in clusters
L eaves that are 2 to 5 inches long with toothed
(serrated) margins that alternate along the branch
G
ray-brown to reddish-brown bark with prominent
horizontal lenticels (marks in the bark that
resemble tiny cuts that are darker or lighter than
the rest of the bark)
Toothed (serrated) margins on leaves
Alternate leaf pattern on branch
R
oundish, red to dark purple to black fruit.
We’ve included six of the most common cherry trees in
this ID Guide, organized into three groups: Japanese,
Native, and Agricultural. Characteristics for these
groups and the more common species within the
groups are described. Remember, your tree may not
have leaves, flowers and fruit at the same time.
Lenticels on bark
Kwanzan cherry (Prunus serrulata)
If you don’t have one of these cherry trees, choose
‘Other cherry’ on your Single Report Datasheet.
Japanese cherry trees
Japanese cherries are often used as ornamental trees
and are found in abundance along the East Coast in
places like Washington D.C. These trees tend to flower
before their leaves fully emerge in the spring.
Japanese cherry trees are often the type you see at
cherry blossom festivals across the country, and they
have been bred to have extremely showy flowers.
The blooms are large (about the size of carnations).
Kwanzan cherry trees produce double blooms of
white to pink flowers. Yoshino cherry trees produce
single blooms of white flowers.
Many white to pink petals make up the double blooms
Yoshino cherry (Prunus x yeodensis)
A single ring of white petals create the blooms
Photos courtesy of Virginia Tech, Gary Fewless, and Wikipedia Creative Commons,
© 2012 National Ecological Observatory Network, Inc.
| CITIZEN SCIENCE
Timing is everything!
© 2012 NEON, Inc. All rights reserved.
Plant Identification Guide
Black cherry (Prunus serotina)
Native cherry trees
Black cherry and chokecherry trees can be found as
ornamentals or in forest habitats in the wild.
Orange fuzz is visible on the underside of the leaves.
Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana)
Orange fuzz is not visible on the underside
of the leaves.
Sweet cherry (Prunus avium)
Leaves have MORE than 8 pairs of veins
Sour cherry (Prunus cerasus)
Native cherry trees have smaller, white, 5-petaled
flowers that appear in long narrow clusters after the
leaves emerge in the spring and are present during the
flowering period. If the cherry tree you are looking at has
leaves AND flowers, you are probably looking at a native
cherry tree. To distinguish between the two species,
turn several leaves over and look very carefully at the
midribs (see picture below). Do you see orange colored
fuzz along the midrib of more than one leaf? If so, you
are looking at a black cherry. If not, you are probably
looking at a chokecherry.
Agricultural cherry trees
Agricultural cherries tend to be used for commercial
purposes and are sometimes referred to as “pie” cherries,
because they are great for making pies!
Sweet cherry and Sour cherry trees have small, white
5-petaled flowers that bloom before the leaves fully
emerge in the early spring. The leaves are the best
feature for distinguising between these two cherry trees.
Sweet cherry trees have leaves with more than 8 pairs of
veins per leaf whereas Sour cherry trees have leaves with
fewer than 8 pairs of veins per leaf.
If you think you are looking at one of these cherry trees,
you may want to record the timing of the flowering now
on your Single Report datasheet and then wait for the
leaves to come out to identify which species you have.
Other cherry trees
If you have a cherry tree that is not on this list, simply
mark “Other cherry” on your Single Report Datasheet.
Leaves have FEWER than 8 pairs of veins
Photos courtesy of Virginia Tech, Ohio State University, Paul Alaback, and Wikipedia
Creative Commons, © 2012 National Ecological Observatory Network, Inc.
Learn more about the Cherry Blossom Blitz at
budburst.org/cherry
| CITIZEN SCIENCE
Timing is everything!
© 2012 NEON, Inc. All rights reserved.