Tips to Identify a Bird Cherry

Are you looking for tips to identify a bird cherry?  Identifying different plant species within the cherry family can be a difficult task, especially because of the fact that there are many different species in existence.

You may be able to spot a typical cherry tree from a mile away, not only because of the fruit it bears but also because of the distinct blossoms which the tree yields in seasonable climates. A bird cherry tree, however, looks a little bit different.

If you find yourself looking at a small tree, or even a large bush, and thinking you are looking at an immature cherry tree, chances are you are probably looking at a bird cherry tree.

There are several distinctive characteristics associated with a bird cherry tree:

• The trunk of the plant is thin and spindly.
• The blossoms look very similar to those of any other cherry tree, but the fruit the tree bears is a great deal smaller.

Identifying a Bird Cherry

You know now how to identify a bird cherry tree, but what if you don't have the tree and you just have the fruit? Here are some tips for identifying a bird cherry without looking at the tree it is growing on:

• Bird cherries are small, dark to deep red berries that look almost exactly like a smaller version of their larger plant brothers.
• Bite into one, however, and you’ll soon realize that the fruit inside a bird cherry is nothing like a maraschino. The fruit inside a bird cherry is sharp, acidic and very bitter, which is one of the sources the bird cherry gets its name from; only birds will eat them, because only birds can stand them.

Bird cherries may also be referred to as hagberries, which is an old English name for them given during the black plague.