Stella is a cultivar of

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus '' Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The ...

developed in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. It is notable as the first

self-fertile Self-incompatibility (SI) is a general name for several genetic mechanisms that prevent self-fertilization in sexually reproducing organisms, and thus encourage outcrossing and allogamy. It is contrasted with separation of sexes among individuals ...

sweet cherry to be named.UC Davis Foundation Plant Services Prunus Encyclopedia
/ref> It has been awarded the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (No ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

.Award of Garden Merit Plants - Fruits and Vegetables
/ref>

Cultivar history

The Stella variety was the result of a breeding program at the

John Innes Institute The John Innes Centre (JIC), located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, is an independent centre for research and training in plant and microbial science founded in 1910. It is a registered charity (No 223852) grant-aided by the Biotechnology and B ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

, England. That program developed three self-fertile seedlings, which were used in attempts to breed high-quality self-fertile cherry trees.Fruit Varieties and Horticultural Digest
/ref> One of the seedlings was crossed with the Lambert variety at the

Summerland Research Station The Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre (previously known as the Dominion Experimental Farm at Summerland and Summerland Research Station) is an agricultural research centre in British Columbia, Canada. The centre has been historically important in th ...

Summerland, British Columbia Summerland (2016 population 11,615) is a town on the west side of Okanagan Lake in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. The district is between Peachland to the north and Penticton to the south. The largest centre in the region is Kelown ...

in 1956 by K. O. Lapins (namesake of the

Lapins cherry Lapins (also marketed as Cherokee) is a cultivar of cherry. It is a hybrid of the Van and Stella cultivars. It has been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Cultivar history The Lapins cultivar was developed in Sum ...

cultivar), and the resulting hybrid tree was named "Stella" in 1968.Stella, a Self-Fruitful Sweet Cherry
Canadian Journal of Plant Science 51:252–253 (May 1971) It has since been used to develop other cultivars, including the Chelan cherry.WSU Tree Fruit: Chelan

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

Tree characteristics

The Stella cherry tree is a vase-shaped tree with a mature height of about 20–30 feet and a spread of about 15 feet.Trees for Seattle
/ref> The tree blossoms early and fruits early, with moderate to heavy crops. Though it is considered a universal pollinator for other sweet cherry varieties, it has been found to not pollinate the

Bing cherry Bing is a cultivar of the wild or sweet cherry (''Prunus avium'') that originated in the Pacific Northwest, in Milwaukie, Oregon, United States. The Bing remains a major cultivar in Oregon,Zebian, Maureen. (8/11/2011) "'Bing' Those Cherries On!" ...

variety in some regions.WSU Tree Fruit: Sweet Cherry Pollination

The tree can grow well in

USDA Hardiness Zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...

s 5–8.Cherry Trees for USDA Zones 5–10
/ref>

Fruit characteristics

The fruit of the Stella cultivar is large, heart-shaped, and dark red, with overall excellent quality.USU Extension

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Uta ...

It ripens about 1 week earlier than Bing.

Compact Stella

A compact version of Stella was developed through X-ray irradiation of dormant Stella scions in 1964 at the

Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base and Japanese internment c ...

in New York. This semi-dwarf variety of the cultivar grows to about half the size of the parent variety. It retains the parent variety's self-fertility and fruits early and heavily. It was named "Compact Stella" in 1973."New fruits from Summerland, British Columbia"
/ref>

References

{{Cherries Cherry cultivars Crops originating from Canada