There are so many cherry blossom trees in Japan, why don't they bear cherry fruit?

Source: People's Daily News

"Somei Yoshino" did not originate in Yoshino, Nara Prefecture?

Somei Yoshino is one of the most common cherry blossom species and is also a specimen cherry blossom species that predicts flowering times throughout Japan. However, in fact, Somei Yoshino did not originate in Yoshino, Nara Prefecture, but in Edo (Tokyo).

Although there is no clear record, the most widely circulated theory in Japan is that Somei Yoshino got its name from the cherry blossom resort of Nara Prefecture - Yoshino, but tracing back to the source, Somei Yoshino was actually an artificially cultivated variety sold in a place called Somei Village (now Toshima-ku, Tokyo) at the end of Edo, which was a hybrid of sakura on the other side of Edo and Oshima cherry blossoms, with good flowering effect, fast growth, and small leaves when flowering, which is most suitable for ornamentation. As a result, after entering the Meiji era, Somei Yoshino was soon sown throughout Japan.

Why don't cherry blossom trees bear cherry fruit?

Many people have asked similar questions when viewing cherry blossoms: Why don't these cherry trees bear cherry fruit? This is because most of the cherries we usually eat are European sweet cherries, which are not the same kind of cherry blossom trees as cherry blossoms. So won't the cherry blossom trees in Japan bear fruit? In fact, it is not the case, if the conditions are met, some cherry blossom trees in Japan can also bear fruit.

The most common cherry blossom variety in Japan, Somei Yoshino, is cultivated by grafting, so all its individuals have the same genes. Most cherry blossom varieties cannot be pollinated with flower trees that have the same genetic genes, so in places full of Somei Yoshino, cherry blossom trees are mostly unable to bear fruit. Wild mountain cherry trees can bear fruit, but the fruit contains a small amount of toxins, so it is generally not recommended.

There are only 10 types of cherry blossoms native to Japan

By name, there are about 1,000 species of cherry blossoms in the world. However, according to the concept of plant ecology, there are about 100 kinds of cherry blossoms, of which only 10 are native to Japan.

Cherry blossoms are the national flower of Japan, but there are only 10 kinds of cherry blossoms native to Japan: mountain cherry, Oshima cherry, Kasumi cherry, Oyama cherry, Takaryo cherry, T-shaped cherry, Deep Mountain cherry, bean cherry, Edo Pai, and Kane cherry blossom. In 2016, Japan discovered a suspected new variety of cherry blossoms, Kumano Sakura. Among them, only the Kansaki cherry blossom grows only on Ishigaki Island, and the other nine types of cherry blossoms can be found all over Japan.