A Cherry originally “cherise” reinterpreted as a plural, from the old French word, is both a tree and a fleshy fruit known as a drupe with a single hard stone enclosing the seed. The cherry belongs to the family Rosaceae, genus Prunus (along with almonds, peaches, plums, apricots and bird cherries). It is distinguished from the rest of the group by having the flowers in small corymbs of several together (not singly, nor in racemes), and in the fruit being smooth and not having a groove along one side. The ones selected for eating are derived from just two species, the wild cherry (P.avium), which has given rise to the sweet cherry to which most cherry cultivars belong, and the sour cherry or morello cherry (P. cerasus), used mainly for cooking and jam making. Both species originate in Europe and western Asia. The other species, although having edible fruit, are not grown extensively for consumption.
Major Sweet cherry cultivars include the ‘Bing’,'Brooks’, ‘Tulare’, ‘King’ and ‘Rainer’. Oregon and Michigan provide light- colored ‘Royal Ann’ (‘Napoleon’) cherries for the maraschino cherry process.
Many flowering cherry cultivars (known as ornamental cherries’) have the statements replaced by additional petals (“double dowers”), so are sterile and do not bear fruit. They are grown purely for their flowers and decorative value and early printmakers used cherry for their engraving blocks.
Cherry is easy to machine, nails and glues well and when sanded and stained, it produces an excellent smooth finish. It dries fairly quickly with moderately high shrinkage, but is dimensionally stable after kiln-drying.
Physical Properties
the most famous sweet cherry variety is the Bing cherry; this cherry variety got its name from one of Llewellyn’s Chinese workmen. Another sweet cherry variety is the Lambert, which also got its start on Leveling Farms. The Rainier cherry, a light sweet variety, originated from the cross breeding of the Bing and Van varieties by Dr. Harold W. Fogle at the Washington State University Research Station in Prosser, Washington. The Bing, Lambert and Rainier varieties together account for more than 95 percent of the Northwest sweet cherry production. Maraschino cherries, the kind most often used in drinks and on ice cream sundaes, are made from sweet cherries. The maraschino cherry originated in Yugoslavia and northern Italy where merchants added a liqueur to a local cherry called the “Marasca.”
Uses
Cherry are used for Fine furniture and cabinet making, mouldings and millwork, kitchen cabinets, paneling, flooring, doors, boat interiors, musical instruments, turnings and carvings.
Health benefiits
Cherries contain anthocyanins, which is the red pigment in berries which is known to reduce pain and inflammation. Anthocyanins are also potent antioxidants. Cherries also contain high levels of melatonin important for the function of the immune system. Research also indicates that melatonin suppresses COX-2.

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