In April the tree is covered in white, five-petalled flowers, hanging in small bunches, each flower on its own long stalk. The young leaves open bronze at the same time.
Native · Up to 30 m
Wild cherry
Prunus avium · Rosaceae
Also called gean
Wild 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.
Often mistaken for ornamental cherry. How to tell them apart →Know it byBlossomWhite blossom in April, each flower on its own long stalk.
CherriesSmall cherries on long stalks, red then dark purple.
BarkRough bands running level round a shiny trunk.
BlossomWhite blossom in April, each flower on its own long stalk.CherriesSmall cherries on long stalks, red then dark purple.BarkRough bands running level round a shiny trunk.Then check · LeavesA dull green oval with a long pointed tip and blunt teeth. Two to five small red knobs sit where the stalk meets the leaf.
How to identify a wild cherry
In July, small round cherries hang in bunches from one point, each on its own long stalk. They ripen from green to bright red, then dark purple.
The bark is smooth and shiny, ringed by rough bands that run level round the trunk, and it peels in thin, papery strips. On older trees the bands survive only in patches.
Learn the wild cherry in TreelyEvery part through the year, and a short round each day until you know it.Get Treely
Every part, in photographs
jamie-aa, CC BY 4.0When to look
JFMAMJJASOND
In leaf
Flowers
Cherries
In leaf: March to November · Flowers: March to May · Cherries: April to July
Every tree on the calendar · How to identify trees in winter
Where you’ll find it
Woods on rich, heavy soils, hedgerows and scrub, and planted in parks and gardens, along roads and in new woods. It is common throughout Britain and Ireland except the north of Scotland and the west of Ireland.
What it’s mistaken for
Wild cherry or ornamental cherry?Street cherries have the same crimson stalk knobs and the same bands round the trunk, so neither settles it.Outline→
Wild cherry or bird cherry?Both native cherries flower white in spring.How the flowers are held→
Wild cherry or blackthorn?White flowers on both.Ripe fruit→
Wild cherry or downy birch?Both peel in level papery strips, with rough bands across the trunk.Colour of the trunk→
Wild cherry or cherry plum?Both have white blossom on long flower stalks, in the same hedges and wood edges.Top of a leaf→
In the app
There’s more of the wild cherry in Treely
- Every part, through the yearLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed in every season
- Its lookalikes, side by sideThe checks that settle it, part by part
- A short round each dayUntil you know the wild cherry on sight, from any side
- Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely tells you which tree
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: jamie-aa (CC BY 4.0), pilmar (CC0), samira_h (CC0), bobwardell (CC0), steve_mcwilliam (CC0), kirstyshannon (CC0), charliefarrell2 (CC0), norrland (CC0), Nicola Crockford (CC BY 4.0), Henry Miller (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.