The occurrence of protruding pistil in sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) and its consequence on fertilization

► The incidence of protruding pistil varied with weather conditions during bloom, genotype, and flower position on the trees. ► Flowers with protruding pistil had similar fruit set potential to normal flowers. ► Growth of petals and pedicels being more sensitive to cold temperature than pistil growth. ► Low temperature reduced petal size but not stylar length. The exposed pistil length varied among cultivars, however, after the flowers opened, the filaments were sufficiently long to position the anthers near or beyond the stigma in most genotypes.