I picked these up from the driveway on my way to the mailbox. They are fruits of the Wild Cherry (Prunus serotina).

There is a large central seed and a relatively small amount of surrounding flesh. They taste very bitter to me, but they are eaten by a wide variety of wildlife. Grey and Fox Squirrels. Opossums, Raccoons, and a wide variety of birds seem to find them very palatable. It is unusual for me to find Wild Cherry fruits under my tree. They are usually eaten in short order.

In earlier times humans made jams and jellies from them. The bark was also used to make a hot water infusion which was said to be effective agains coughs and colds.

The trunk of Wild Cherry is very distinctive, and one can usually pick them out from a distance, particularly larger ones.

The bark regularly breaks into scale-like pieces.

As one looks more closely it seems the bark provides a favorable substrate for small crustose lichens.

So far I have found only one Wild Cherry tree in my woods I wish I had more of this useful and interesting tree.