Cherry bark: the lenticels do most of the work
Cherry bark is smooth and grey-brown when young, and it is covered in horizontal lines. Those lines are lenticels, the pores the tree uses to exchange gases through the bark. On cherry they are unusually prominent, running in neat horizontal bands around the trunk.
As the tree matures, the bark develops a second feature: it begins to peel in thin, papery rings that curl away from the trunk, revealing a reddish-brown layer beneath. The combination of horizontal lenticels and curling rings is close to diagnostic.
Cherry timber: colour, grain and pores
- Heartwood — a warm pinkish-brown, sometimes with a slight orange or golden cast. It darkens noticeably with exposure to light.
- Sapwood — a narrow band of pale cream, clearly distinct from the heartwood.
- Grain — fine and usually straight, sometimes gently wavy. The texture is smooth and even, without the coarse openness of oak.
- Pores — small and evenly scattered, far finer than oak or ash.
- Gum pockets — small dark streaks or flecks of hardened resin, common in cherry and a useful confirmation.
- Weight — moderately heavy and hard, denser than pine and lighter than oak.
Telling cherry from the trees it resembles
| Tree | Bark | Timber colour | Giveaway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cherry | Smooth grey-brown, horizontal lenticels, peeling rings | Pinkish-brown, darkens with light | Horizontal lenticels plus a warm pink tone |
| Plum | Similar smooth bark, often darker | Dark reddish-brown, denser, more figure | Darker and heavier, with a more mottled grain |
| Birch | White, peeling in horizontal papery sheets | Pale cream, low contrast | No lenticels, far paler timber |
| Alder | Grey-brown, rough and scaly with age | Pale reddish-brown when cut, dulls to tan | Timber turns from orange to dull tan as it dries |
| Apple | Grey-brown, scaly plates with age | Warm brown with a swirling grain | Bark cracks into small plates rather than peeling |
| Stained maple | Grey, smooth, no peeling rings | Similar tone but no pores visible | Maple has a much finer, almost poreless surface |
Reading a cut log end
A freshly cut cherry log shows the ring structure clearly. The heartwood is the pinkish-brown core, the sapwood is the pale band around it, and just under the bark there is a thin darker line. Cherry is a diffuse-porous wood, meaning the pores are spread evenly through each growth ring rather than concentrated at the start.
If the log has been left outside, look for the pale cream sapwood band. It is proportionally narrow in cherry, often only a centimetre or two on a mature tree, and its narrowness is itself a useful clue when comparing with birch or alder where the pale band is much wider.
Wild cherry, orchard cherry and ornamental cherry
- Wild cherry and orchard cherry are the same species group, Prunus avium, and their bark and timber are effectively identical.
- Ornamental flowering cherries are also Prunus, and their bark shows the same lenticels and peeling rings, though often at a smaller scale.
- The Japanese flowering cherries, Prunus serrulata, have particularly smooth bark with very regular horizontal banding.
- In every case, the timber from an ornamental cherry is the same warm pinkish-brown, though the trees are rarely large enough to mill.
What cherry timber is used for
Cherry is a furniture and cabinet timber. It machines and finishes well, takes a fine polish and holds a crisp edge, which is why it turns up in drawer fronts, panelling and instrument work.
Its colour is also its weakness. Because cherry darkens in light, a board finished today will not match a board finished last year. Any piece that needs a consistent colour should be finished and aged together.
Cherry is one of the few timbers most people can learn to recognise by eye, because the bark and the wood each carry a signature that is hard to fake. The bark has horizontal breathing pores you can see from several metres away, and the timber has a warm pink tone that deepens with age and light.
This guide covers both halves of the identification: reading a standing cherry tree from its bark, and reading a board or a log end from the timber itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Look for smooth grey-brown bark covered in prominent horizontal lines, called lenticels, and thin papery rings peeling away from the trunk on older trees. That combination is close to diagnostic for cherry.