Beautiful, black fruit. Vigorous, productive tree. Promising briner-type selection. Ripens 3 to 5 days before Ranier, earlier than other commercially used processor cherries. Emperor Francis X Stella.
Fruits are medium-plus size, attractive yellow with red blush.
Good field tolerance of canker. On Colt, mahaleb and mazzard stock for 2001. A new red sweet cherry from Hungary. It has a red blush on an attractive yellow background. Of all the varieties at Littletree Orchards, Emperor Francis has consistently been the most resistant to cracking, and most tolerant of cold temperatures.