Can you help identify our cherry tree?

6 years ago

We have a single cherry tree that we planted 20+ years ago. It appears to be self fruitful and would need to be extremely low chill to produce fruit in our area. It came from a local provider who specialized in bananas and other tropical fruit trees.

We picked our first fruit today (April 14), but looks like we have a healthy

crop coming. Any ideas what variety it might be?

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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

I am by no means up on cherries but those fruit look odd for an ordinary orchard cherry. They have barely any fruit stalks. And many of the fruit appear to be sticking up rather than hanging down. The immature fruit appear to have a structure at the blossom end which cherries don't have. And they seem to grow in racemes or along the branches. What size are the fruit and what is inside them? Are there any flowers left which you could show? What colour were they? Can you also show bark and leaf close ups?

eta

I would not eat these fruit until you have a definite id.

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Comments (9)

Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast)
Original Author
6 years ago
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Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast)
Original Author
6 years ago
I will take some more pictures and post soon. I did measure the fruit, and they were a little more than a half an inch in diameter. They have dark red meat inside. We did also try the fruit yesterday, with no ill effects and have eaten the fruit over the years. They do taste like cherries. We will hold off eating anymore until we can better identify them. I didn't remember where the tree came from, but my husband remembers it came from the same place we purchased our bananas and that the owner was excited about this unusual variety that could be grown on the coast. We have never gotten a huge crop, so the reason I am asking is it looks like we will get a decent sized crop this year.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
6 years ago
I would expect that to be something like Royal Crimson, which is one of only a small handful of low chill varieties suitable for coastal SoCal.
Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast) thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast)
Original Author
6 years ago
I took some more pictures and you are right they don't look like an orchard cherry at all. Especially the flowers and the leaves are too small (1 - 2 inches) I think it could be this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_ilicifolia
Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast)
Original Author
6 years ago
Best fit seems to be this - https://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?strLetter=P&plant_id=1324
Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast)
Original Author
6 years ago
@gardengal I am now convinced that it is not a "true" cherry. In trying to identify it, I did come across the Royal Crimson, which looks like it would be a good fit for us. If I can find a spot for it, I may have to add it to the collection.
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
6 years ago
OK. Now we see the blooms it is definitely not an orchard cherry. That's why I asked snout the flowers since the fruit looked as if it grew in a raceme.

Could yours be Prunus ilicifolia subsp. lyonii, aka Catalina cherry, do you think?
Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast) thanked floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
Lynda (Zn9b/23 - Central CA Coast)
Original Author
6 years ago
Thank you! That is the conclusion I am coming to as well. I've learned that Catalina cherries come from the channel islands of California, just off the coast from us. A few years ago, we were in Catalina on a tour, when the guide pointed one out to us. We remarked about the similarity of the leaves but it was a small bush and ours is a fairly big tree, so I didn't make the connection.