Medicinal Monday - Cheers for Wild Black Cherries

Wild black cherries are not only delicious, they are good for you. Even though they are smaller than cultivated sweet cherries, they still have the same sweet taste. Some folks think of black cherries as chokeberries' sweeter cousins! Native Americans found many medicinal uses for wild black cherries as well as culinary uses.

About Wild Cherry Trees

The Latin name for this plant is Prunus Serotina. Its Latin name serotine means late and refers to the fact that it flowers and fruits later than other cherry tree species. The name Prunus refers to the fact that it is a host for two species of Prunus butterflies, among others. The black cherry tree is a tall stately tree that can reach up to 100 feet. The trees can be found growing from Eastern Canada to Florida and as far west as Texas. Wild Black Cherry trees can be identified by their emerald green leaves which have finely serrated edges. When wilted, the leaves are poisonous.  The rough bark grows in overlapping plates and is reddish-brown.  The blossoms are beautiful and appear in dense clusters at the end of the slender branches usually in the late spring or early summer.  The flowers are about 1/3 of an inch across and have five white round petals, a reddish-orange center surrounded by yellow-tipped stamens. The slender twigs that the flowers grow on are reddish brown and smooth.  After blooming, each flower is replaced by a small berry that turns from green to red and eventually to a purple-black cherry about the size of a marble when ripe. The cherries are usually harvested in the fall. This is a long-lived tree that can thrive in the forest for more than 120 years. In the autumn the leaves of the wild black cherry tree turn golden yellow.

Culinary and Practical  Uses

The tree's fruits have a slightly sweet and acidic taste and can be eaten raw.  Native Americans consume them as fresh fruit.  The Iroquois use them in bread or cake and the Ojibwa (Moerman) dry the cherries and use them to flavor soup.  Black cherries are also used for rum earning the name "rum cherry" and for flavoring in soft drinks and in jams and jellies. Dried black cherries are an essential ingredient in pemmican, a high-energy food made of fat and protein. Specifically, the Chippewa and the Iroquois among other Native American communities cooked the berries and made little cakes out of them, then dried the cakes and stored them for winter use. The Ojibwa and the Potawatomi used the ripe cherries to make whiskey and wine.

The Cherokee prized the wood of the black cherry tree and used it to make furniture. They also used the wood for carvings.

Medicinal Uses

Medicinally the black cherry tree is very important to Native Americans.  A tea or infusion is made from the dried inner bark to treat a variety of symptoms including colds, fever, and labor pains. It is also used as a general pain reliever. The roots were used to treat intestinal worms, cold sores, burns, and other skin eruptions. The fruit is used to make cough syrup.  As a matter of fact,  a form of wild cherry bark can be found today in some cough syrups, cough drops, and lozenges.  

Historically, the Mohegan tribe allowed the ripe wild black cherry to ferment naturally in a jar for about a year and then drank the juice to cure dysentery.  The Meskwaki tribe made tea out of the bark of the roots of the wild cherry tree and used it as a sedative. The Cherokee made an astringent wash from the bark and used it on sores, cuts, and ulcers. They also made a warm infusion of the bark and gave it to women to ease labor pains during childbirth.  The Chippewa would make a powder from the roots and apply it to burns, cuts, and ulcers. The Delaware made a decoction of the bark and drank it to treat diarrhea. The Iroquois made a poultice of the bark and applied it to the neck and forehead to ease the pain of a headache. They also used the bark as a steam bath for babies with coughs and colds. The Malecite made an infusion of bark, beaver castor, and gin and took it to treat coughs and colds.  The Mohegans and Narraganset made an infusion of buds and leaves mixed in some sugar and took this as a treatment for colds. The Shinnecock put the cherries in a bottle and allowed it to stand for a few days and then took it to treat stomach trouble. 

Did You Know

A quick way to identify a wild cherry tree is to look for a fungus called black knot that creates a burl on the tree. 

The roots, bark, leaves, and twigs can be highly toxic to wildlife due to the presence of cyanogenic compounds. 

Other names for the wild black cherry are rum cherry and mountain black cherry.

Wild Black Cherry trees are said to support more than 400 species of moths and butterflies.

It is a highly prized hardwood for furniture and cabinetry.