Cerasus avium

The gean is usually a non-suckering fruit and forest tree which grows larger than the familiar sour cherry of gardens. Even in Finland it grows to 5-10m. The trunk is red-brown and shiny with decorative horizontal grooves, the bark exfoliating in horizontal strips. The branches are erect, in contrast to the drooping branches of the sour cherry. The gean flowers coincidentally with leaf break, in white clusters. The fruit is usually dark red but sometimes yellow, even almost black, either sweet or slightly bitter.