Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Bird-cherry

BIRD-CHERRY, or the Prunus Padus, L. is a species of cherry-tree, growing wild in several parts of Britain, especially in the North of England, and some parts of Norfolk.

The Bird-cherry tree attains a height of fifteen or twenty feet, is of a shrub-like growth, with a branchy top; its leaves are large, oblong, rough, and scrated; the fruit large and red.—See With. 455.

From the fruit cf the Bird-cherry an agreeable wine may be produced: and it is affirmed in the Transactions of the Swedish Academy, for 1774, that its kernels, when deprived of their external rind, afford so good a substitute for almond milk, that the most experienced persons cannot ascertain the difference. Its wood is much used on the Continent, by cabinet-makers and upholsterers;—its inner bark affords a green lixivium for dyers.