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Sweet cherry, Prunus avium  

The sweet cherry is the wild ancestor of the cultivated cherry tree. This wild variant stands out in April-May with an explosion of white blossoms. Not only does this look beautiful, it is also an important food source for bees. Thanks to pollinators such as bees and bumblebees, cherries grow on the tree in the summer.

The fruits, which ripen in the summer, are eaten by birds such as starlings and blackbirds, which helps to spread the seeds. This is similar to other plants in the rose family, such as apples and blackberries.

The Prunus avium can grow up to 15 meters tall. The bark of the tree is distinctive with horizontal stripes and can peel off in thin layers. The wood of the sweet cherry is valuable in the furniture industry because of its warm color and fine structure. Other cherry varieties are cultivated as ornamental cherries, with the goal of creating a variant that blooms even more abundantly (such as the Japanese cherry). However, this does not add any value to the tree's nectar.