NEN Gallery

The fruit is now starting to develop on the Wild Cherry which is a tree that can reach 20m or more. It has purple-grey, shiny, peeling horizontally bark. Open grown trees have conical crowns. The buds are large, pointed and russet against grey twigs. They burst in April producing leaves that are initially brown but soon turn green. The leaves have two prominent knobs where they join the stalk. The large white long stalked flowers are produced in April either before or at the same time as the leaves. Wild cherry is often found near wood edges but can reach its full canopy in places such as open beech woods. Picture taken near Bedford May 15th 2006.