PLANT

The cherry tree (Prunus avium Linnaeus, 1755) is a fruit tree belonging to the Rosaceae family, native to Europe, North Africa and Asia.

^{It is a deciduous and broad-leaved tree that grows from 15 to 30 m in height. Young trees show a strong apical dominance with a straight trunk and a symmetrical conical crown, which becomes rounded and irregular in older trees. It lives about 100 years and is very demanding of light.}

FRUIT

Originating from the wild cherry tree, the sweet cherry is cultivated for the fruit: cherry, which has been differentiated into many varieties over the centuries.The fruit is a drupe fleshy (cherry) 1-2 cm in diameter (wider in some cultivated selections), bright red to dark purple when ripe in early summer. The edible fruit has a sweet to quite sweet taste. astringent and bitter, depending on the variety, to be eaten fresh; it contains a single kernel 8-12 mm long, 7-10 mm wide and 6-8 mm thick, the seed inside the shell is 6-8 mm long.

The Imperial variety is yellow-fruited.

CULTIVATION

The cultivation of the sweet cherry tree is widespread throughout the world, where climatic conditions permit, and it is the main supplier of the fruit known as the sweet cherry. cherry. Of the other species similar to the sweet cherry, only the varieties derived from the Prunus cerasus (black cherry or sour cherry).

Full sun.