Early European settlers brought cherry trees to New Zealand. They planted them in orchards and gardens. Now the tree grows wild in old orchards, along hedgerows, and in waste places. It is a cloud of white or pink in the spring landscape. The cherry tree is tall. It reaches up to twenty-five metres in height. It has a conical crown and reddish-brown bark. The leaves are oval, toothed, and arranged alternately along the branches. They are dark green and glossy. They turn yellow or red in autumn. The flowers are white or pink. They have five petals. They appear in spring before the leaves. The tree is a cloud of colour. It signals that winter is ending. The fruit is the prize. The cherry is red and sweet. It is dark and juicy. It tastes of summer. Cherry trees have escaped from cultivation in New Zealand. They grow wild in cooler regions. You find them in Central Otago, in the hills of Canterbury, and in the corners of old farms. These wild trees are living history. They preserve varieties no longer grown commercially. A gnarled old cherry tree in an abandoned orchard might be seventy years old. Its fruit is still sweet. Its blossoms are still beautiful. The wood of the cherry tree is hard, dense, and richly coloured. It was used for furniture, carving, and musical instruments. The fruit was eaten fresh, bottled, or made into preserves. The cherry tree was a tree of beauty and utility. It belonged to the orchard and the garden. To see an old cherry tree in flower is to see a piece of history. The settlers who planted it are gone. The tree remains. It blossoms every spring. It fruits every summer. It drops its leaves every autumn. It does not know it is a stranger here. It just grows. It blooms. It feeds the birds. The cherry tree is not native. It is not endemic. It is an immigrant. It is a settler. It is a tree that made a new home in a new land. It has been here for two hundred years. It will be here as long as the winters are cold enough.