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Cherry

Episode 12 of 15

Fiona Stafford discusses the cherry tree, prized for spring blossoms, wood for furniture and fruit, but whose numbers are in sharp decline.

In many countries, cherries are there just to look pretty - a short party trick trotted out once a year which everyone loves and coos at, but then its got to be kept the rest of the year too. True, it has unrivalled spring blossoms, a truly stunning beauty, especially in large numbers. It has much-prized wood and fruit, both of which have a long British pedigree, yet man and global warming have removed 90 per cent of UK cherry trees since 1930. In other countries (Japan especially) it is a sacred tree as a flowering cherry, but the fruit has been monopolised by a few countries - Turkey and the USA especially. Apart from fruit, cherry trees are prized for their swirling, eye-ridden, colourful hardwood which is amongst the most prized for cabinetry and furniture making, and medicinally they can cure gout, fever and help us sleep.

Producer - Turan Ali
A Bona Broadcasting production for 主播大秀 Radio 3.

Available now

15 minutes

Last on

Tue 22 Aug 2017 22:45

Broadcasts

  • Wed 20 May 2015 22:45
  • Tue 22 Aug 2017 22:45

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