Few people know that the cherry gets its name from a town in Turkey. The word ‘cherry’ refers both to the tree and the fruit that the tree produces. Not only does the tree produce one of the sweetest and most delicious fruits but it also has perhaps the most spectacular blossom of all trees. The pink and white blooms fill the sky with an unearthly beauty. It is because of these blossoms that Japan has made the sakura its national tree and why every spring millions of Japanese flock to temples, parks and shrines to view the sakura trees in bloom.
There are three types of cherry tree: the red cherry, the wild cherry and the black cherry. In America the black cherry is also called the chokecherry, the wild black cherry, the rum cherry and the escarpment cherry trái cherry.
Of the tree types of cherry tree the red and the wild cherries produce the sweet fruit but it is the black cherry with its long straight trunk which makes the best lumber. The black cherry is also the tallest growing of all the varieties of cherry tree.
Sadly, the black cherry is prone to insect attack and as a consequence is not a popular commercial tree. So if you are interested in installing cherry flooring in your house it is best to buy reclaimed cherry flooring. Furthermore, it is much more environmentally friendly to buy reclaimed hardwood not only for flooring but for also for furniture. Reclaimed hardwood is a great example of recycling and helps to stop deforestation. Deforestation is directly linked to commercial logging, and the result of losing trees is climate change.
The sapwood of cherry is a pale pinkish color and the heartwood is a darker reddish color that becomes redder with time. It is for this reason that reclaimed cherry flooring is more beautiful than fresh cut cherry flooring. There are few domestic American trees with the same stunning color and grain as the cherry and reclaimed cherry is even more stunning. It is impossible to simulate the rich red that time gives to cherry because cherry does not stain easily; although it does take a high polish.
Another advantage is that cherry flooring is like, other hardwood flooring, anti allergenic. It allows no place for dust mites to collect and breed. It is dust mites that are one of the main triggers of allergic rhinitis.
Much of the reclaimed cherry on the market in America comes from mixed wood barns from the Nineteenth Century. If you are interested in buying reclaimed cherry the best place to start is with a Google search for “directory of reclaimed hardwood flooring suppliers”.
Once you see a friend’s house that has a reclaimed cherry floor you might well be doing that very Google search.
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