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The word cherry refers to a fleshy fruit (drupe) that contains a single stony seed. The cherry belongs to the family Rosaceae, genus Prunus, along with almonds, peaches, plums, apricots and bird cherries. The subgenus, Cerasus, is distinguished by having the flowers in small corymbs of several together (not singly, nor in racemes), and by having a smooth fruit with only a weak groove or none along one side. The subgenus is native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with two species in America, three in Europe, and the remainder in Asia.
History
Etymology and antiquity
The cherry is generally understood to have been brought to Rome from northeastern Anatolia, historically known as the Pontus region, in 72 BC.1 The city of Giresun in present-day Turkey was known to the ancient Greeks as Choerades or Pharnacia, and later as Kerasous or Cerasus, < Kerason < Kerasounta < Kerasus “horn” (for peninsula) in Greek + ounta (Greek toponomical suffix). The name later mutated into Kerasunt (sometimes written Kérasounde or Kerassunde).
The English word cherry, French cerise, Spanish cereza, and Southern Italian dialect cerasa (standard Italian ciliegia) all come from the Classical Greek (???)? through the Latin cerasum, thus the ancient roman place name Cerasus, from which the cherry was first exported to Europe.2
Reintroduction into England
By the Middle Ages, however, cherries had disappeared in England. They were reestablished at Tyneham, near Sittingbourne in Kent by order of Henry VIII, who had tasted them in Flanders.345
Some common names listed here have historically been used for more than one species, e.g. “Rock cherry” is used as an alternative common name for both P. prostrata and P. mahaleb.
Prunus alabamensis C. Mohr – Alabama cherry
Prunus apetala (Siebold & Zucc.) Franch. & Sav. – Clove cherry
Prunus avium (L.) L. – Wild cherry, Sweet cherry, Mazzard or Gean
Prunus campanulata Maxim. – Taiwan cherry, Formosan cherry or Bell-flowered cherry
Prunus canescens Bois. – Greyleaf cherry
Prunus caroliniana Aiton – Carolina laurel cherry or Laurel cherry
Prunus cerasoides D. Don. – Wild Himalayan cherry
Prunus cerasus L. – Sour cherry
Prunus concinna Koehne
Prunus conradinae Koehne
Prunus cornuta (Wall. ex Royle) Steud. – Himalayan bird cherry
Prunus dawyckensis Sealy – Dawyck cherry
Prunus dielsiana CK Schneid. – Tailed-leaf cherry
Prunus emarginata (Douglas ex Hook.) Walp. – Oregon cherry or Bitter cherry
Prunus fruticosa Pall. – Dwarf cherry, European dwarf cherry, Mongolian cherry or Steppe cherry
Prunus grayana Maxim. – Japanese bird cherry
Prunus ilicifolia (Nutt. ex Hook. & Arn.) Walp. – Evergreen cherry, Hollyleaf cherry, Holly-leaved cherry or Islay
Prunus incisa Thunb. – Fuji cherry
Prunus japonica Thunb. – Korean cherry
Prunus laurocerasus L. – English laurel or Cherry laurel
Prunus litigiosa CK Schneid.
Prunus lusitanica L. – Portugal laurel
Prunus lyonii (Eastw.) Sarg. – Catalina Island cherry
Prunus maackii Rupr. – Amur chokecherry, Manchurian cherry
Prunus mahaleb L. – Saint Lucie cherry, Rock cherry or Mahaleb cherry
Prunus maximowiczii Rupr. – Miyama cherry or Korean cherry
Prunus nipponica Matsum. – Japanese Alpine cherry
Prunus padus L. – Bird cherry
Prunus pensylvanica L.f. – Pin cherry or Fire cherry
Prunus pilosiuscula (CK Schneid.) Koehne
Prunus prostrata Labill. – Mountain cherry, Rock cherry, Spreading cherry or Prostrate cherry
Prunus pseudocerasus Lindl. – Chinese sour cherry
Prunus pumila L. – Sand cherry
Prunus rufa Wall ex Hook.f. – Himalayan cherry
Prunus salicifolia Kunth. – Capulin, Singapore cherry or Tropic cherry
Prunus sargentii Rehder – Sargent’s cherry or Ezo Mountain cherry
Prunus serotina Ehrh. – Black cherry
Prunus serrula Franch. – Paperbark cherry, Birch bark cherry or Tibetan cherry
Prunus serrulata Lindl. – Japanese cherry, Hill cherry, Oriental cherry or East Asian cherry
Prunus speciosa (Koidz.) Ingram – Oshima cherry
Prunus subhirtella Miq. – Higan cherry or Spring cherry
Prunus takesimensis Nakai – Takeshima flowering cherry
Prunus tomentosa Thunb. – Nanking cherry, Manchu cherry, Downy cherry, Shanghai cherry, Ando cherry, Mountain cherry, Chinese dwarf cherry, Chinese bush cherry or Hansen’s bush cherry
Prunus virginiana L. – Chokecherry
Prunus x yedoensis Matsum. – Yoshino cherry or Tokyo cherry