CULTIVATED CHERRIES The Sour, Pie Cherry (Prunus Cerasus, Linn.), which often escapes from old gardens and spreads by suckers into roadside thickets, is a European immigrant. It is believed to be the parent of our cultivated sour cherries. It is a low-headed, spreading tree with no central "leader" among its branches, with grey bark, and stiff, grey-green, ovate leaves, and white flowers in scaly side clusters opening before the leaves are fully out. The cherries are soft, small and red.
Two groups of these sour cherries are recognised in cultiva tion: (i) The early, light-red varieties with uncoloured juice, of which the Early Richmond is a familiar type; and (2) the late, 33° dark-red varieties with coloured juice, of which the English Morello is a well-known example.
The Sweet Cherry of Europe (Prunus Aviunz, Linn.), has given us our cultivated sweet cherries. Wild seedlings in
fence corners are called Mazzards. They have brown bark, and grow tall and pyramidal around a central stem, often attaining great age and size—very different in habit of growth from small, short-lived sour cherry trees. The leaves are broad, doubly toothed, sharp pointed, and limp in texture. The flowers are much like those of the preceding species, but they open later, when the leaves are out. The cherries are more or less heart shaped and generally sweet.
Beside the Mazzards, which are inferior in fruit, there are the Heart cherries in cultivation, two groups of them: (1) Those with firm flesh, and (2) those with soft, juicy flesh; and the Dukes, which have light-coloured, acid flesh. The Hearts are variously coloured—some red, some black, others yellow.