American and European cherry is very alike. European cherry is a light red-brown kind of wood, while the American kind has a warm dark colour. When plain sawn* the wood shows a very nice drawing with a fine grain.
Cherry wood is prized for its natural lustre and rich, warm glow, and therefore desired for furniture and floors.

*Plain sawn wood is the most straightforward way to cut rectangular-profiled boards by making a series of parallel cuts in a log