Pin Cherry is sought after for its beautiful white flowers and striking and edible red berries, sour off the tree but great in cooking.
 
     It's a medium tree, about half the size of Wild Cherry, and also features lovely spring blooms.  Fall color is brilliant in reds and oranges.  Its reddish-brown bark peels in horizontal strips.
 
     Pin Cherry makes an excellent addition to a food forest for the fruits only.  All other parts of the tree are toxic.  The pits are toxic when crushed.
 
     Pin Cherry's wildlife value is outstanding; as with all Prunus species, it is a Keystone Plant because it hosts hundreds of caterpillar species.  It's a larval host to the Spring Azure and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies, among others, and songbirds eat the fruits.
 
     Other common names are Bird Cherry, because of its benefits to birds, and Fire Cherry, because it is among species first to sprout after a fire.