Cherry plum
Prunus cerasiferaCherry plum is a small, bushy tree that fills with white blossom from February, as its first leaves start to open. Its thin young shoots are shiny green.
How to identify cherry plum →
Henry Miller, CC BY 4.0
Lookalikes
Cherry plum or wild cherry?
Both carry white blossom on long flower stalks, in the same hedges and wood edges.
The quickest check
The quickest check is how the flowers are held. Cherry plum: mostly single, each on its own long stalk. Wild cherry: posies of two to six together. No flowers on the tree? Check the top of a leaf.
At a glance
| Look at | Cherry plum | Wild cherry |
|---|---|---|
| How the flowers are held | Mostly single, each on its own long stalk | Posies of two to six together |
| Top of a leaf | Fresh green and glossy, to 7 cm | Big and dull green, to 11 cm |
| Trunk | Dark grey, rows of small white pores | Purplish grey, peeling in level papery strips |
| This year's shoot | Thin and shiny green, soon hairless | Brown dusted grey, and hairless |
| Ripe fruit | Round plum, up to 4 cm, yellow or red | Round cherry, up to 2 cm, red to dark purple |
Five ways to tell them apart
How the flowers are heldFlowers
Top of a leafLeaves
TrunkBark
This year's shootTwigs and buds
Ripe fruitPlums
The two trees
Wild cherry
Prunus aviumWild cherry is a tall tree with shiny, reddish brown bark that peels in horizontal strips. In April it is covered in clusters of white flowers.
How to identify wild cherry →Their other lookalikes
Cherry plum or blackthorn?Quickest check: the flower and its stalk→
Cherry plum or purple-leaved plum?Quickest check: the colour of a leaf→
Wild cherry or bird cherry?Quickest check: how the flowers are held→
Wild cherry or blackthorn?Quickest check: how the flowers sit→
Wild cherry or crab apple?Quickest check: the trunk→
Wild cherry or downy birch?Quickest check: the colour of the trunk→
Wild cherry or ornamental cherry?Quickest check: the outline→
In the app
See them side by side in Treely
- Both trees, part by partLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed through the year
- Every lookalike side by sideThe checks that settle it, for every pair people mix up
- A short round each dayUntil you can tell them apart at a glance
- The full GuideBoth trees written up in full, with where to find them
Free to download.
Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.
Photographs: Henry Miller (CC BY 4.0), steve_mcwilliam (CC0), Shawn O'Donnell (CC BY 4.0), jamie-aa (CC BY 4.0), bobwardell (CC0), Daniel Cahen (CC BY 4.0), Paul Cook (CC BY 4.0), kirstyshannon (CC0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.