Cerasus szechuanica Seeds | Sichuan Cherry
LATIN NAME: Cerasus szechuanica
COMMON NAME: Sichuan Cherry
Plant Profile
Sichuan Cherry is a deciduous tree of the rose family, reaching ten to fifteen metres with a smooth, glossy bark and a graceful, spreading crown. It flowers early, covering the bare branches with soft white-pink blossom before the finely toothed leaves appear, and its small, dark red fruits ripen through the summer, when birds strip them within days.
It grows in the mountain forests of Sichuan and Yunnan, usually between 1,500 and 3,000 metres, where it is one of the trees that marks the arrival of spring in the valleys. Its autumn foliage turns warm gold and red before it falls. The bark is chestnut-brown and peels in thin horizontal strips, a trait it shares with the ornamental cherries.
Science & Biotechnology
The species belongs to Cerasus, the group of true cherries that most botanists now separate from the plums, and it is one of the many Chinese cherries described from the expeditions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its relationships within the genus have been studied with molecular markers, and it sits close to the species that gave rise to cultivated ornamental cherries.
Wild cherries of this group are important in breeding as sources of cold hardiness, early flowering and disease resistance, particularly against cherry leaf spot and bacterial canker. Their fruit is small and mostly stone, but it is eaten by birds and small mammals, which spread the seed through the forest.
Uses & Benefits
The fruit is edible but small and sour, and it is mostly left to the birds; the tree is grown for its blossom, its autumn colour and its graceful habit. It makes a fine specimen for a lawn or a woodland edge, and it can be underplanted with spring bulbs that flower at the same time.
The wood of wild cherries is used for small turnery and for smoking food, and the species has a place in the breeding of ornamental cherries for colder climates, where the Japanese cultivars are less reliable. In China and Japan the flowering of wild cherries is followed as a seasonal calendar, and related species are planted in parks for the same reason.
Growing from Seed
Cherry seed needs cold and patience. Clean the stones and mix them with damp sand, keep them cool for three months, then sow in spring in a loam-based compost at 15 to 20 °C. Germination is uneven, and some stones will not sprout until the second year.
Plant out in deep, well-drained soil in sun, and keep the young tree free of grass competition for the first three years. Stake it against wind, and prune only in summer to avoid silver leaf infection. The tree flowers from about its fifth year, earlier if it is grafted onto a dwarfing rootstock.
Our Take
An early-flowering mountain cherry with good autumn colour and no need for fuss. Grow it for blossom, not for fruit, and give it room to spread.
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