This is an extremely showy tree when it flowers like a white cloud at the end of May. In late summer the flowers develop into red, pea-sized berries with a hard stone seed, tasting bittersweet or acidic. The narrow pointed leaves take on very attractive red to orange autumn colour. The crown is narrow and airy, the branches usually erect, though in the variety ‘Bertta’ the crown is broader and the branches distinctly drooping.
The pin cherry was planted at Mustila in the 1930s near the stream on Etelärinne (Southern Slope). It was taken from there into nursery production in the 1970s. Nowadays it is commonly used as a garden and park tree throughout southern and central Finland. It has also spread into other parts of the Arboretum, for example Pähkinärinne (Hazelnut Slope) and the edges of Tammimetsä (Oak Forest). The trees spread both from root suckers and with the help of birds, which spread the seeds throughout the Arboretum. In its native North America the pin cherry is a fast-growing pioneer species, appearing quickly in clearings left by forest fires.
