The Versatile, and Loved Cherry Tree :: Botany

The Versatile, and Loved Cherry TreePeople all across the world enjoy cherries for their sweet flavor in pies, candies, and pastries. They have become one of the most widely obliging fruits in the world. As reported by the Columbia Encyclopedia Online (2000), they can be imbed in home orchards all across the country. However, the rubicund steer has many uses. Some varieties are valued for their beautiful flowers, others for the wood that can be make into high quality furniture. Whatever the variety or use, the cherry tree tree is an important plant in todays society. The cherry tree traces its origins back to the east. The earliest signs of cherry trees come from the area around Asia Minor, Persia, and Transcaucasia (www.botany.com, 2000). To this area of the world, the cherry tree has become almost a sacred plant, with many varieties of flowering cherry trees being cultivated into various forms all valued for their flowers. This has become so popular in the east that in Japan they have even instituted a national spend around the time that the trees begin to blossom (The Columbia Encyclopedia Online, 2000). Cherry trees were introduced to Europe through both natural processes and human interaction. By 73 BC, the cherry tree had been introduced to most of southern and central Europe with the help of the Romans. Soon after, the plants started to appear in Great Britain, where they were able to flourish (MS Encarta Online, 2000). Now there are species of cherry trees all over the Northern Hemisphere with species and varieties that have adapted so well to the different environments that today you can find varieties of cherry tree in almost any region, from California to Japan, that have developed unique and prized characteristics (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1999). Cherry trees, like many fruit bearing trees, are members of the rose family. The scientific name for the family is Rosaceae. Cherries are in the genus Prunus along with apricots, peaches, and plums ( The Columbia Encyclopedia Online, 2000). Cherry trees come in hundreds of varieties, but are derived from only a a few(prenominal) species. There are two main species valued for their fruit, a couple of species are known for producing high quality wood or are bad as ornamentals. All species of cherry tree have varieties that are prized for their beautiful and aromatic flowers (www.botany.com, 2000). One of the cherries that bear edible fruit is known scientifically as Prunus avium.