Big, tall tree with dark berries. HELP 😁

[Ellizabeth]

Hello
We have a very large tree in our backyard that has some dark bluish purple round berries with a single pit in them. We live on Long Island in NY. Hoping you all can help me identify it. Really appreciate any assistance!
Be well.
Liz

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Black Cherry/Chokecherry, Prunus virginiana.

 

[Zeedman]

Agree, black cherry. As a young man, I used to make wine from the berries. Cherry is a hard, beautiful wood, my father turned some very pretty lamp bases from it. If the trunk is large, you could probably get a good price from a wood worker if you ever choose to cut it down.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

If the trunk is large, you could probably get a good price from a wood worker if you ever choose to cut it down.

On the border of our property with our neighbors, there is an oak tree with a MASSIVE burl on it. Knowing how much oak burl goes for, we have a standing agreement with said neighbors (and with any that come after them that, should that tree ever die and be taken down (because of the rules here, that's the only circumstance when it is permissible to take down a tree, when it is dead and has been proved so by the village tree commission) they are not ON THIER LIVES to allow that burl to be hauled away by the tree people.

Should the burl be sold, we will, however have to warn whoever buys it that one of the neighbors long ago got a dart stuck in it, and the metal part is presumably still in there.

I have in fact often lamented how much good wood must be lost by the practice of urban trees being taken down by people who just mulch them. Not just obvious things like oak, maple, cherry and black walnut, but exotica like Paulownia (here, a weed tree, but in Japan, they pay a fortune for the wood).

 

[Ellizabeth]

Black Cherry/Chokecherry, Prunus virginiana.

Thank you so very much.

 

[Ellizabeth]

Agree, black cherry. As a young man, I used to make wine from the berries. Cherry is a hard, beautiful wood, my father turned some very pretty lamp bases from it. If the trunk is large, you could probably get a good price from a wood worker if you ever choose to cut it down.

Thank you. The wine comment also tells me I don’t need to worry that the berries might be poisonous.

 

[Alasgun]

Yes; and if you ever do cut it down be sure to leave 3 ft above the ground; then dig the stump out. The very finest grain pattern will be in this region. While not a particularly hard wood it can be a very beautiful wood!