Bitter Cherry
Prunus emarginata
Bitter cherry is a slender western cherry of foothills and forest openings, clouded with fragrant white flowers and hung with small bitter-red fruit that birds devour. An important larval host in the West. As with every plum and cherry, the flesh is the food: the pits, leaves and twigs are cyanogenic and are not.
- Family
- Rosaceae
- Type
- tree
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 80–80 ft
- Spacing
- 12–25 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- April, May
- Bloom colors
- white, pink
- Wildlife value
- butterflies, larval host, pollinators
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~456 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- specimen, erosion control
- Native states
- AZ, CA, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY
Related native plants
More Prunus species
- Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)
- Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana)
- Carolina Laurelcherry (Prunus caroliniana)
- Hollyleaf Cherry (Prunus ilicifolia)
- American Plum (Prunus americana)
- Mexican Plum (Prunus mexicana)