Recorded folklore for the wild cherry tree or bird cherry tree is a rare find. Some folklore is recorded in Scotland in the year of 1889. The story of the bird cherry trees was often told about the wood of the tree. The story often gave a warning that the tree’s wood was evil and it was considered to be a witch’s tree. The stalks of the berries of the bird cheery tree was used in herbal medicine to treat bronchitis and anemia. In old English folklore a story was often told about Mary, Joseph, and the unborn Christ child. The story goes on to say that the couple were wal;king in a cherry orchard and Mary asked Joseph to pick her some cherries. Joseph replied in an unkind manner to Mary and said “bring thee with child to pick your cherries.” Meaning that she should bring the father of the unborn child to pick for her the cherries she requested. The story goes on to say that the unborn Crist child often talked with these cherry trees and they obeyed. The cherry trees would then lower their branches in reach for Mary to pick the cherries she requested. In some regions of the world it was a custom to cut the branches of the cherry tree on December 4th, which is the Feast of St. Barbara. These branches were carried into a warm house and they began to blosson in time for Christmas. The cherry tree blossoms naturally around Easter. These blossoms were often used for decorations at church.

Folklore about the wild cherry tree is often associated with the cuckoo bird. It was believed that the cuckoo bird would eat three full meals of cherries before it could stop singing. Wild cherries are used in making pies, wine, or soup. Both types of cherries are used to flavor alcoholic drinks. It was often recorded in history that wild cherries were used in herbal medicine as a treatment for coughs. It was also known that when these cherries were dissolved in wine, they were useful in treating gallstones and kidney stones. The bark of the wild cherry tree was often used in making dyes. These dyes ranged from colors cream to tan. The roots of this tree were used in dye making as well. The colors produced from the root were red to purple. Cherry wood is extremely hard and fine-grained. This wood is even used today in the making of fine furniture.