Once, when i had
gone to a nursery to purchase some plants, i noticed a small plant with one
small red fruit. I asked the person there what plant that was. He said,
“Cherry”. Nurseries, for attracting buyers, make even small plants to bear fruits
by using some hormones. I became happy that i would now have an exotic
fruit-bearing plant and purchased it. I brought it home and planted it in my
garden. It was 3 or 4 years ago. I do not remember whether i had tasted the
solitary fruit which came with the sapling and how it tasted.
Last year, when
the sapling had grown to the size of a small bush with thorny branches, a few
flowers bloomed on it which bore a couple of small fruits of the size of
cherries.
Now, the bush has
grown to a height of over 4 feet. A month ago, tiny white flowers bloomed on
it. The flowers turned into small whitish fruits. I kept a close watch on the
plant and recorded the progress. Gradually, the whitish fruits turned red. I
was happy that i was now the owner of the plant bearing red and sweet cherries.
However, the fruits were still somewhat hard and not soft like the cherries we
purchase from the market.
The Flowers
The Raw White Berries
Cherry?
I waited for the
fruits to ripen and be soft. The fruits did ripen and did become soft but their
colour became black like black berries. These are a little smaller than black
berries.
I was intrigued.
What fruit is this? I plucked some, brought home and asked the wife to taste
‘black cherries’. She flatly refused to do so. Then i washed them and tasted
one.
The fruits are
sour!
I checked from
Google and learnt there are different varieties of cherries- red, yellow, sweet
and sour. The fruits in my garden
have rather thick skins: the pulp inside is sour like tamarind and have small
flat seeds inside.
Black Cherries?
Is it cherry? I
have christened the plant ‘black cherry’.
Can you help me in
identifying this plant?
