Cerasus pseudocerasus Seeds | Chinese Cherry

Chinese Cherry (Cerasus pseudocerasus) in early spring with white blossom on bare branches above young leaves — Chinese Cherry (*Cerasus pseudocerasus*): Rosaceae, the small early cherry of Chinese home gardens.

LATIN NAME: Cerasus pseudocerasus

COMMON NAME: Chinese Cherry

Plant Profile

Chinese Cherry is an upright, small deciduous tree of the rose family from central China, growing three to six metres tall with a rounded crown of oval, toothed leaves. In early spring, often before most cherries, the bare branches carry white flowers in small clusters, and by late spring the small, red to yellow fruits follow, sweet and soft-fleshed.

It has been grown in Chinese home gardens for centuries as the Ying Tao, the small local cherry of the markets, and it stands cold winters well. It wants moist, well-drained, sunny ground and a sheltered position, since the early blossom is exposed to frost. The bark is smooth and reddish-brown on young trees, ringed with pale bands, and the tree carries its flowers so early that snow on the blossom is a known risk in its home districts.

Science & Biotechnology

The species is part of the cherry group whose genetics underpin modern sweet and sour cherry breeding, and it features in studies of early flowering, cold tolerance and fruit chemistry within the genus.

Its early bloom is the biological point: the species flowers earlier than the Japanese cherries and most European varieties, which is a hazard in frosty districts and an advantage where the spring is reliable, and its phenology has been documented in Chinese orchard literature. Genetic work has placed the species among the ancestors of the cultivated cherries, and its early-flowering habit has been examined as a source of bloom-time variation in cherry breeding. Orchard studies in China have compared its fruit quality and season with the introduced sweet cherries, and its value is firmly in the early weeks before the main crop arrives.

Uses & Benefits

In the garden it does two jobs at once: a small, early-flowering ornamental and a genuine fruit tree. The fruits serve the table fresh, dried and preserved, and the blossom feeds the earliest bees.

Cherries as a group are among the best-studied functional fruits, with trials on anthocyanin-rich juice for recovery, gout and sleep, and this species shares the family’s fruit chemistry, though its fruit are smaller and softer than the commercial crop. In Chinese markets the fruit appears in late spring weeks before the main cherry crop, small, sweet and soft, sold in paper cones and eaten the same day. Gardeners in cold districts where commercial cherries fail grow this species instead, since its hardiness and small size fit the short-season garden.

Growing from Seed

Sow the stones in autumn into a loose compost or stratify them in damp sand for a winter, then sow in spring; the hard stone germinates slowly and erratically, so sow generously.

Grow the seedlings in full sun, pot them on yearly, and plant out into moist, well-drained soil in a sheltered position. Protect the early blossom from frost with a covering in cold districts, and net the fruit against birds. A thick mulch keeps the shallow roots cool and moist through summer, which is the single most valuable piece of aftercare this small tree receives. Pick the fruit the day it colours; the soft flesh does not improve on the tree, and the birds find a ripe cherry within hours of its turning.

Our Take

A small cherry with the earliest blossom in the garden and soft red fruit by late spring. Cold-stratify the stones, choose a sheltered spot, and net the crop.

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