Prunus emarginata

Bitter cherry

Family: Rosaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Bitter cherry is a native shrub found in the California Floristic Province (except Great Valley and Channel Islands) and Great Basin, growing on rocky slopes, in canyons, chaparral, and mixed-evergreen or conifer forests at elevations below 3,000 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces white flowers 3 to 8 millimeters long in flat-topped racemes with 6 to 12 blossoms. Growing as a shrub or small tree up to 15 meters tall, it often forms dense thickets with multiple stems. Its deciduous leaves are generally elliptic to obovate, 15 to 60 millimeters long, with crenate-serrate edges and a wedge-shaped base ending in an obtuse or rounded tip. The fruit is a small, glossy red to purple drupe 7 to 14 millimeters long with a fleshy pulp.

Habitat: Rocky slopes, canyons, chaparral, mixed-evergreen or conifer forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: < 3000 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (exc GV, ChI), GB

California counties: Humboldt, Kern, Fresno, El Dorado, Mono, Tulare, Siskiyou, Alpine, San Luis Obispo, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Placer, Del Norte, Modoc, Lake, Trinity, Nevada, Madera, Tuolumne, Riverside, Plumas, San Mateo, San Diego, Sierra, Butte, Monterey, Mendocino, Shasta, Tehama, Alameda, Amador, Inyo, Mariposa, Marin, Glenn, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Calaveras, Colusa, San Francisco, Sonoma, Lassen, Napa, San Benito

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.