Wild cherry or gean (Prunus avium): what the forestry bodies record

This page reports what forestry bodies say about one tree. It does not identify trees from descriptions or photos and does not say what should be done with any tree. Each fact names its source, all read on October 9, 2026. The agency records for the North American wild cherry are on the black cherry page.

At a glance

Item	What the source records
Scientific name and family	Prunus avium, family Rosaceae (Woodland Trust)
Common names	Wild cherry, sweet cherry and gean (Woodland Trust); Forest Research files it as Wild cherry, gean with the code WCH
Origin	Native to Britain and much of Europe (Forest Research); a Secondary tree species in Forest Research's list
Height and age	Mature trees can grow to 30 m and live for up to 60 years (Woodland Trust)
Rainfall, exposure, shade	More than 600 mm of rain preferred; intolerant of exposure; a light demander (Forest Research key properties)

Range

Forest Research calls wild cherry one of two native cherries, the other being bird cherry, Prunus padus, and the only one that grows to timber size. The Woodland Trust says it is native throughout the United Kingdom and Europe except the far north. EUFORGEN, the European forest genetic resources programme, gives the range as Europe, western Asia and parts of North Africa, as a frequent component of woodland margins with a scattered distribution. Forest Research says it is mainly planted for ecological interest when native woodlands are established, and that seed from eastern and southern Europe is not adapted to British conditions.

Site and soil

Forest Research calls wild cherry a pioneer light demanding species that spreads through seed and suckers. It is cold hardy and frost tolerant, but does not tolerate exposure and is sensitive to drought. It grows best on medium to very rich soils of fresh moisture status, including calcareous sites, and is not suited to dry or waterlogged soils or soils of poor nutrient status, with a marked preference for warm and sunny sites. EUFORGEN describes a pioneer that colonises clearings and woodland edges quickly but is often later outcompeted by other hardwoods, favouring well-drained, fertile, deep and light soils with good water supply. Forest Research adds that it does not coppice well but can sucker prolifically.

Leaves, flowers and bark

The Woodland Trust describes shiny deep reddish-brown bark with prominent cream horizontal lines called lenticels. Leaves are oval, green, toothed and pointed, 6 to 15 cm long, with two red glands at the top of the leaf stalk, and they fade to orange and deep crimson in autumn. White cup-shaped flowers 8 to 15 mm across appear in April in clusters of two to six, and the fruit is a globular, hairless, deep-red cherry. It names sour cherry, bird cherry and cherry plum as look-alikes, and says wild cherry fruits sit on longer stalks than sour cherry.

Wildlife and timber

The Woodland Trust says the spring flowers are an early source of nectar and pollen for bees, the cherries are eaten by blackbirds, song thrushes, badgers, wood mice, yellow-necked mice and dormice, and the foliage feeds caterpillars of moths including the cherry fruit moth and the orchard ermine. Forest Research says well managed trees can produce high quality, high value logs, and records yields of 6 to 10 cubic metres per hectare per year. EUFORGEN says the wood is valued for fine grain, strength and rich colour and used for fine furniture, musical instruments and decorative woodwork.

Pests and diseases the sources name

Forest Research says bacterial canker, caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. morsprunorum, is common and widespread and can be very disfiguring and sometimes fatal. It says pruning wounds can also allow infection by Chondrostereum purpureum, the cause of silverleaf, which it calls a progressive and often fatal disease, and that wild cherry can suffer from butt rots, which is the reason it gives for rotations of no more than about 60 years. The entry names no regulated pest. This site covers a related canker fungus on stone fruit in Cytospora canker.

Text on Forest Research is adapted from its tree species database entry and contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.