ACHARYA N.G.

RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

S V AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE ,TIRUPATI

CHERRY
B.Sc.(Ag), 1st Semester-2012-2013

S.ESWARA REDDY

 Main features: Small fast-growing tree with drooping branches that give an umbrella-shaped crown. Grows up to 7-12m. Leaves: Simple, covered with sticky hairs. Flowers: Small, white. Last only one day, petals falling in the afternoon. Fruits: Small, round, juicy, green turning red when ripe. Very sweet, musky, somewhat fig-like flavour, filled with tiny, yellowish seeds, too fine to be noticed when the fruit is eaten. Status in Singapore: Introduced, common in wastelands. World distribution: Native to southern Mexico, Central America, tropical South America, the Greater Antilles, St. Vincent and Trinidad. Widely introduced to almost all tropical regions. Classification: Family Elaeocarpaceae.

The Cherry Tree is named for its sweet sticky fruits, juicy and full of tiny seeds. They are a favourite with birds and bats, which disperse the seeds, and children too! The leaves are covered with tiny sticky hairs.
Although it provides good shade, it is not a popular wayside tree because the birds and bats that visit the tree also leave their droppings under the tree. The tree flourishes in poor soil, tolerating both acid and alkaline conditions and quite drought resistant. However, it doesn't tolerate salty conditions and so is not a true mangrove associate.

Uses as food: The fruits are eaten in Mexico and sold in markets there. Fruits are also made into jams and used in tarts. The leaf is made into a tea. In Brazil, they are planted on river banks so their fallen fruit attracts fish which are then caught.

Other uses: The reddish-brown timber is compact, finegrained, moderately strong, light in weight, durable, and easily worked. It is used to make small boxes, casks, and general carpentry. The dried timber is valued as firewood for cooking as it lights quickly and produces intense heat with little smoke. In Brazil, it is being considered as pulp for paper making. The bark is stripped to produce strong soft cord made into ropes. Because of its ability to grow quickly on poor soils and rapid dispersal by birds and bats, the Cherry Tree is being considered as a candidate for reforestation projects.

Traditional medicinal uses: The flowers are used as an antiseptic and to treat spasms. It is also taken to relieve headaches and colds. Role in the habitat: As a pioneer species on poor soils, it helps provide shade for other plants to establish themselves. Its fruits provide food for birds and bats, and it provides shelter for small creatures

CHERRYS LEAF

Acid cherries fruit predominantly on the previous years growth, so pruning needs to be much heavier than for sweet cherries in order to encourage lots of new growth. Prune once fruit has been picked. First, remove any dead, damaged or diseased branches. Then remove anythat are very weak, badly placed, crossing through the centre of the bush or rubbing on other branches.
Remove about a quarter of the remaining older wood, cutting back to a main branch or younger side-shoot. Leave young shoots that are less than 30cm long unpruned. Shorten longer ones, plus any vigorous new extension growth on main branches, by about a third to encourage branching. Pruning.

Climate Change and Cherry Tree Blossom Festivals in Japan

Richard Primack and Hiroyoshi Higuchi. Climate change is already having an influence on plants throughout the world, with warming trends creating conditions that cause many plant species to extend to cooler zones on mountain slopes or farther north of their original ranges. Plants are leafing out earlier in the spring and holding leaves longer in the autumn, creating an extended growing season. Of all of the characteristics of plants that relate to global warming, the timing of flowering is the one for which there are the greatest number of observations. These data demonstrate that plants are now flowering earlier than they did a few decades ago, and that changes are mainly a product of temperature increase, rather than a result of other aspects of the weather. Although observations of flowering time tell a convincing story of the impacts

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