Tree · Rosaceae
Pin cherry
Prunus pensylvanica · includes its varieties and subspecies
Pin cherry is recorded as native to 26 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 470 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Pin cherry at a glance
- Native in
- 470 counties, across 26 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 30 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Pin cherry is recorded as native to 26 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 470 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 470 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Colorado 7 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Georgia 3 counties
- Illinois 15 counties
- Indiana 8 counties
- Iowa 2 counties
- Maine 14 counties
- Massachusetts 12 counties
- Michigan 65 counties
- Minnesota 50 counties
- Montana 3 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 6 counties
- New York 37 counties
- North Carolina 13 counties
- North Dakota 18 counties
- Ohio 11 counties
- Pennsylvania 58 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Dakota 4 counties
- Tennessee 7 counties
- Vermont 12 counties
- Virginia 24 counties
- West Virginia 17 counties
- Wisconsin 67 counties
- Wyoming 3 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 30 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 16 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.3 to 7.3
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- None
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 20 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 90
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Red
Other
- Toxicity
- Moderate
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Rosaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- PRPE2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Prunus pensylvanica (PLANTS symbol PRPE2), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources