chokecherry

(Prunus virginiana var. virginiana)

Conservation Status

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

N5 - Secure

SNR - Unranked

Minnesota

not listed

Wetland Indicator Status

Great Plains

FACU - Facultative upland

Midwest

FACU - Facultative upland

Northcentral & Northeast

FACU - Facultative upland

 
chokecherry
 
 
Description

Chokecherry is a deciduous, relatively slow-growing, short lived, 8 to 25 tall, up to 6 in diameter woody plant that rises from a network of shallow, to ½ in diameter rhizomes. It is usually a tall shrub with multiple stems, though on favorable sites it may be a small tree with a single trunk. It is short-lived and relatively slow growing. Roots occur at intervals along the rhizomes and may extend vertically 6 or more. The root system extends horizontally 35 or more. The plant often forms colonies (thickets) by producing aerial stems from buds on the spreading roots (suckering).

The stems are slender, erect to slightly spreading, often leaning, often crooked, and often twisted. They are often branched near the base. The branches are slender and upright to slightly spreading

The bark on young stems is smooth and dark grayish-brown. It is covered with numerous, pale, horizontal lines (lenticels). As it ages it becomes darker and rough; the outer layers develop tight, curled peeling edges; and the lenticels become shallow fissures.

Twigs are slender to moderately stout, hairless, and brown to grayish-brown or reddish-brown, soon becoming dark reddish-brown. They do not have an outer grayish skin that wears off. When scratched the twigs have a bitter almond odor and taste.

Buds are reddish-brown, sharply pointed, and small, only about long. They are held slightly away from the twig. They are covered with about 10 scales. The scales are pointed, dark brown at the base, and gray at the margins. The leaf scars are small, raised, and semi-circular. They have 3 bundle scars. The pith is solid.

The leaves are alternate, broadly elliptic or inversely egg-shaped, 2¼ to 4long, and 1¼ to 2 wide. They are 1.4 to 2 times as long as wide. They are attached to the twig on to ¾ long leaf stalks (petioles). The petiole is usually hairless and has 1 or a few stalkless glands near the point where the blade attaches to the stalk. The blade is rounded at the base and tapers to a short point at the tip with concave sides along the tip. The upper surface is dark green and hairless. The lower surface is pale green with whitish or yellowish hairs mostly on the axils of the lateral veins. The margins are finely, singly toothed. The teeth are short and straight. They are not tipped with a minute, hard, gland-like thickening. The leaves turn yellow in autumn.

The inflorescence is a dense, elongated, unbranched cluster (raceme) of 20 to 50 flowers at the end of short, leafy shoots of the current season. The racemes are cylinder shaped, 2 to 4 long, and about ¾wide. Each flower is on a hairless, to 5 16 long stalk.

The flowers are to ½ in diameter. They open in early May to mid-June before the leaves reach full size. There are 5 sepals, 5 petals, about stamens, and 1 style. The sepals are green and 1 64 to 1 16 long. They have 10 or more minute, red glands or glandular teeth on the margin. The petals are white, to 316 long, and conspicuously narrowed at the base (clawed). The claw is about 1 32 long. The expanded portion of the petal is circular, cupped, and about wide. The stamens have long, translucent green filaments and yellow anthers.

The fruit is a fleshy, one-seeded, spherical or inversely egg-shaped, 5 16to 7 16 in diameter drupe. It is green at first, red later in the season, and finally dark reddish-purple to blackish when it matures in mid-July to late August. The sepals do not persist in fruit. The ripe fruit is very astringent but edible when ripe.

 

Height

8 to 25

 

Flower Color

White

 

Similar Species

Black cherry (Prunus serotina var. serotina) is a tree with a single trunk. The bud scales are green at the base and reddish-brown at the tip. The leaves are narrower, 2 to 3 times as long as wide. The lower leaf surface is hairless except for a narrow patch of rust-colored hairs along both sides of the midvein on the lower ½ or of the blade. The teeth on the margins are curved inward. They have a gland-like thickening at the tip. The sepals persist in fruit.

Habitat

Forest edges and openings; interiors or forests with thin to moderate canopies; thickets; old fields; and roadsides. Full to partial sun.

Ecology

Flowering

Early May to mid-June

 

Pests and Diseases

Cherry Leaf Spot (Blumeriella jaapii) causes small purple spots on the leaves. Later, the spots turn brown, separate from the green tissue, and drop off, leaving a “shot hole”. Eventually, the infected leaf turns yellows and falls off.

Chokecherry finger gall mite (Eriophyes emarginatae) causes a small, narrow, erect, finger-like gall on the upper side of leaves. When present, there are usually many galls on each infected leaf.

Use

 

Distribution

Distribution Map

 

Sources

2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 24, 28, 29, 30.

Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu, XX/XX/XXXX).

6/9/2025    
     

Nativity

Native

     

Occurrence

Common and widespread

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae (green algae and land plants)

Subkingdom

Viridiplantae (green plants)

Infrakingdom

Streptophyta (land plants and green algae)

Superdivision

Embryophyta (land plants)

Division

Tracheophyta (vascular plants)

Subdivision

Spermatophytina (seed plants) / Angiospermae (flowering plants)

Class

Magnoliopsida (flowering plants)

Superorder

Rosanae

Order

Rosales (roses, elms, figs, and allies)

Family

Rosaceae (rose)

Subfamily

Amygdaloideae

Tribe

Amygdaleae

Genus

Prunus (plums, cherries, and allies)

Subgenus

Padus (bird cherries)

Species

chokecherry (Prunus virginiana)

   

Subordinate Taxa

 

   

Synonyms

Padus nana

Padus virginiana

   

Common Names

choke cherry

chokecherry

common chokecherry

eastern choke cherry

Virginia chokecherry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Axil

The upper angle where a branch, stem, leaf stalk, or vein diverges.

 

Claw

A stalk-like narrowed base of some petals and sepals.

 

Drupe

A fleshy fruit with a single hard, stone-like core, like a cherry or peach.

 

Filament

On plants: The thread-like stalk of a stamen which supports the anther. On Lepidoptera: One of a pair of long, thin, fleshy extensions extending from the thorax, and sometimes also from the abdomen, of a caterpillar.

 

Lenticel

A corky, round or stripe-like, usually raised, pore-like opening in bark that allows for gas exchange.

 

Petiole

On plants: The stalk of a leaf blade or a compound leaf that attaches it to the stem. On ants and wasps: The constricted first one or two segments of the rear part of the body.

 

Pith

The spongy cells in the center of the stem.

 

Raceme

An unbranched, elongated inflorescence with stalked flowers. The flowers mature from the bottom up.

 

Rhizome

A horizontal, usually underground stem. It serves as a reproductive structure, producing roots below and shoots above at the nodes.

 

Sepal

An outer floral leaf, usually green but sometimes colored, at the base of a flower.

 

Sucker

A basal shoot rising from the roots or from a bud at the base of a shrub or tree.

Visitor Photos
 

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Luciearl

Found this growing on the shore in my buffer.

chokecherry   chokecherry

Bill Reynolds

chokecherry   chokecherry
MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos
chokecherry    

Plant

   
     
chokecherry   chokecherry

Inflorescence

 

Inflorescence

     
chokecherry   chokecherry

Inflorescence

 

Inflorescence

     
chokecherry   chokecherry

Inflorescence

  Leaves
     
chokecherry   chokecherry

Leaf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaf

     
chokecherry   chokecherry

Young bark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Young bark

     
chokecherry   chokecherry

Fruit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fruit

 

Camera

Slideshows

Prunus virginiana
Matt Lavin

Prunus virginiana
About

Fruit: drupe. Prunus is the only genus with a single ovary per flower that develops into a drupe. Shrubs to small trees, up to 6m tall, usually riparian and site with high water table, common throughout Montana and sometime entering open understory, sagebrush steppe, and rangeland near riparian areas.

Chokecherry
DianesDigitals

Chokecherry
About

Copyright DianesDigitals

Chokecherry (Wild Cherry) (Prunus virginiana)
Andree Reno Sanborn

Chokecherry (Wild Cherry) (Prunus virginiana)

 

slideshow

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Other Videos

Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) and Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), Montana, USA
Rob Mutch

About

Uploaded on Jan 8, 2012

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_mellifera

Encyclopedia of Life (EOL): http://eol.org/pages/3787799/overview

[taxonomy:binomial=Apis mellifera]

Chokecherry Blossoms (Prunus virginiana)
Wandering Sole TV

About

Published on Jul 5, 2012

Chokecherry shrubs in flower.

Wild edibles, ChokeCherry tree Identification.
JoeandZachSurvival

About

Uploaded on Jun 2, 2011

The Chokecherry tree can be a big tree, the berries while tart and mouth numbing, they ere edible, a bit sour, but they make great jellies and jams.

Here is a springtime view of the tree as a cross reference for anyone interested. Thank You.

 

Camcorder

Visitor Sightings
 

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Luciearl
May 2023

Location: Cass County

chokecherry
Bill Reynolds
8/7/2016

Location: Numedal Township, Pennington Co., Minnesota

chokecherry
Olga Zenteno
8/8/2015

Location: Scenic State Park

chokecherries ripe all over the park- alongside lakes and on trails as well.

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Binoculars

 

Created: 5/16/2005

Last Updated:

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