Cherry stalks
Cherry stems; the fruit stalks of the sweet cherry, Prunus avium of Linnaeus, and the sour cherry, Prunus cerasus; the Greek kerasia of Dioscorides
- Known today as
- The dried fruit stalks of the sweet and sour cherries. Grieve gives their marks as “stalks 1 3/4 inch long, very thin and enlarged at one end,” and says those of all species were used, gathered in Britain, at Clermont-Ferrand in France, and elsewhere on the Continent.
- Kind
- Plant, in 2 older authorities
- Constituents
- tannins, malic acid, flavonoids
- Earliest authority here
- Dioscorides (c. AD 40–90)
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online · GBIF · Wikidata
Caution. Not for anyone under eighteen, for want of data, nor where a reduced fluid intake is advised. Fever, painful urination, spasms, or blood in the urine call for a doctor.
Cherry stalks: what was it used for?
An astringent tea. Grieve gives the stalks, half an ounce to a pint of water, in infusion or decoction, for bronchial complaints, anaemia, and looseness of the bowels. Of the tree, Culpeper made the dried tart cherries binding to the belly and provoking urine, and the gum, dissolved in wine, “good for a cold, cough, and hoarseness of the throat” and to break and expel the stone.
Cherry stalks: what does modern science say?
The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee accepts the stalks as a traditional herbal medicine, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” for the relief of symptoms of minor urinary complaints, together with the general advice to drink enough fluid to increase the amount of urine (monograph of 2024). Its assessment report finds polyphenols and tannins, organic acids chiefly malic, citric, oxalic, and shikimic, and flavonoids.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- tanninswith polyphenols
- malic acid ChEMBLchief of the organic acids, with citric, oxalic, and shikimic
- flavonoids
- Mechanism
- Not established in the sources read for this entry.
- Standing
- European Union herbal monograph (2024): traditional use, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” for symptoms of minor urinary complaints.
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Prunus avium peduncle (Cherry stalks). EMA/HMPC/379866/2023, 20 November 2024. Read in full · the text read
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Prunus avium peduncle. EMA/HMPC/379865/2023, 20 November 2024. Read in part · the text read
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Cherry stalks: what lore surrounds it?
The old writers had little to say of the stalk. Culpeper’s and Dioscorides’ claims are for the fruit and the gum of the tree; the European monograph is for the stalks alone.
Cherry stalks: what did the older authorities say?
- Dioscorides
- Cherries eaten fresh are good for the bowels, and dried they stop discharges; the gum of the cherry tree, taken with diluted wine, heals an old cough, gives a good colour, sharp sight, and appetite, and in wine helps those troubled with stones.
- Nicholas Culpeper
- “It is a tree of Venus.” “Cherries, as they are of different tastes, so they are of different qualities”: the sweet pass quickly through and nourish little, the sour please a hot stomach and procure appetite.
Sources
- Grieve, M. A Modern Herbal, “Cherry Stalks.” As published on botanical.com. Read in full · the text read
- Culpeper, N. The Complete Herbal, “The Cherry-Tree.” Project Gutenberg, 49513. Read in part · the text read
- Dioscorides. De materia medica, 1-157, in the modern English version of T. A. Osbaldeston and R. P. A. Wood (Johannesburg: Ibidis, 2000), after Goodyer’s translation of 1655. Internet Archive. Read in part · the text read
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Prunus avium peduncle (Cherry stalks). EMA/HMPC/379866/2023, 20 November 2024. Read in full · the text read
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Prunus avium peduncle. EMA/HMPC/379865/2023, 20 November 2024. Read in part · the text read
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 5 cited: 2 read in full, 3 read in part.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
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Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published October 16, 2026
- Chicago
“Cherry stalks.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 16, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cherry-stalks.
- MLA
“Cherry stalks.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 16 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cherry-stalks. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Cherry stalks. (2026, October 16). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cherry-stalks
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See Also
Sharing tannins, malic acid, flavonoids
Potentilla reptans · Bistorta officinalis · Diascordium · Arctostaphylos uva-ursi · Sempervivum tectorum · Apples, syrup of · Hibiscus sabdariffa · Sumac
Also in Dioscorides
Cleavers in Dioscorides · Chaste tree in Dioscorides · Coltsfoot in Dioscorides · Chamomile in Dioscorides · everything Dioscorides names →
Also in Nicholas Culpeper
Chickweed in Nicholas Culpeper · Chicory in Nicholas Culpeper · Centaury in Nicholas Culpeper · everything Nicholas Culpeper names →
Nearby in the alphabet
Chanterelle (apricot-scented mushroom with blunt ridges for gills) · Chocolate · Chokecherry (the chokecherry of North America) · Chaga (cracked, charcoal-like growth on living birch)
Historical description, not medical advice.
