Prunus fruticosa, the dwarf cherry, ground cherry or steppe cherry is a deciduous, xerophytic, winter-hardy, cherry-bearing shrub.
As a shrub Prunus fruticosa grows 1–2 metres high and as wide, in almost any soil, but best in loamy soil, spreading via suckers. Roots are abundant. The plant requires full sun, it is a steppe rather than a forest plant, although it does form thickets at the edges of open forest.
Fruits weighing 3-4 g, dark red, sweet and sour taste. As a sour tasting cherry, the fruit is used in cooking, and for jams and jellies. It has medicinal uses as an astringent. The flowers are its basis of bee-keeping honey plant.
Fruiting is annual, good. Winter hardiness is high.