Investigation of morphological and anatomical features of herbal materials sold under the name of “Kiraz Sapı”

Cerasus avium (L.) Moench (Kiraz) is deciduous tree that has been widely cultivated due to its fruits. It grows naturally in the north Anatolia. Since İts fruits are consumed as food, they are widely cultivated. Turkey is one of the largest cherry producers in the world. Its leaves, fruits and fruit stalks are traditionally used due to their therapeutic properties. The fruit stalks are consumed as a diuretic and strengthening among folk, and also due to its diarrhoeal cutter effect. Fruit stalks of C. vulgaris Miller (vişne) are sold with the same purpose the name of as “kiraz sapı”. The study was carried out on 13 different samples purchased from 5 different cities belong to 5 different regions of Turkey. The fresh samples were collected from around Ankara to be used as the standard sample. Morphological features of the standard samples and the samples obtained from the market were examined comparatively. The cross and superficial sections were taken from fruit stalks of the standard samples (sweet cherry samples with white and red fruits) and their anatomical structures were determined. The samples were also powdered and their characteristic structures were examined. In addition, anatomical and morphological features of Cerasus vulgaris (vişne) fruit stalks were also studied comparatively. C. vulgaris fruit stalks were observed to be usually longer than sweet cherry fruit stalks. C. avium and C. vulgaris fruit stalks showed no difference in terms of the anatomical structure, but they were d to differ in terms of druse density.