We just bought our house last August and there are many things growing that I haven't identified yet. This tree has my mom and I stumped. It could be a native tree but my mother has lived 75 miles from here all her life, and she has no idea. That makes me think it's planted but we can't identify it. The first picture is of the whole tree, it would be twice as tall but the top half has been broken out and is still hanging (green and flowering!) I need to cut it out of there. The flowers remind me of a Spirea but I've never seen a Spirea tree?? Could someone please help me out?
Definitely Prunus, Possibly Prunus emarginata var mollis? If so, height ranges to 15m, west Cascades BC to Ore, more treelike than shrub, according Flora of PNW. After looking at pictures on-line, I don't think P. emarginata is correct. Looks most like Oscar's P. spinosa. Would be either planted or escaped to the wild. Harry
Yes: bitter cherry. Common native, characteristic of open sunny places. Later it will probably have small red cherries that attract songbirds.
Bitter cherry = P. emarginata. Ron B. is one of the more expert of the many experts that respond to this forum (sometimes referred to with awe by us lesser mortals :) so I would then assume my first guess was correct or at least close. Harry
Can also confirm it is NOT Prunus spinosa - that has flowers singly or not more than 2-3 together, not in clusters of 5-10 as here
Thanks Michael. That shows me where I went astray at least in my second thought. I was looking at flowers as drawn in "Flora of PNW" but not really noting the basic differences in attachment of the different varieties presented there. Harry
Thanks everyone!! It certainly looks like a Bitter Cherry after Googling it. I'll see what happens to it after I cut the broken top out. If it survives and bears fruits that attract birds I may leave it until it gets to big for the spot it's in, it's very close to the driveway.
Likely there are other examples in the vicinity. It is not as conspicuous as sweet cherry, Japanese cherries, or even chokecherry (another native species). Here bitter cherry crosses rather often with sweet cherry to produce Puget cherry (botanical description to be published soon), an apparently sterile intermediate that is also more showy than bitter cherry.
