Prunus virginiana

Chokecherry is a suckering shrub or small tree growing to {{convert|1-6|m|ft|abbr=off|frac=2}} tall, rarely to {{cvt|10|m|ft|abbr=on}} and exceptionally wide, {{Convert|60|ft|abbr=on|order=flip}} with a trunk as thick as {{Convert|30|cm}}.{{Cite book |last1=Arno |first1=Stephen F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qDD4DwAAQBAJ |title=Northwest Trees: Identifying & Understanding the Region's Native Trees |last2=Hammerly |first2=Ramona P. |publisher=Mountaineers Books |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-68051-329-5 |edition=field guide |location=Seattle |pages=242–245 |language=en |oclc=1141235469 |orig-date=1977}} The leaves are oval, {{convert|2.5|-|10|cm|abbr=on|frac=4}} long and {{cvt|1.2|-|5|cm|in|abbr=on|frac=4}} wide, with a serrated margin.{{eFloras|1|242417061|Prunus virginiana|family=Rosaceae|first=Joseph R.|last=Rohrer}} The stems rarely exceed {{Cvt|2|cm|in|frac=4}} in length.{{Cite book|last=Angier|first=Bradford|url=https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetoedib00angi/page/52/mode/2up|title=Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants|publisher=Stackpole Books|year=1974|isbn=0-8117-0616-8|location=Harrisburg, PA|pages=52|oclc=799792|author-link=Bradford Angier}}

The flowers are produced in racemes {{cvt|4|-|11|cm|in|1|abbr=on|frac=4}} long in late spring (well after leaf emergence), eventually growing up to 15 cm. They are {{convert|8.5-12.7|mm|frac=8}} across.{{Illinois Wildflowers|trees/plants/chokecherry|Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana)|html=1|access-date=6 June 2023}}{{Minnesota Wildflowers|tree/chokecherry|Prunus virginiana (Chokecherry)|access-date=7 June 2023}}

The fruits (drupes) are about {{cvt|6|-|14|mm|in|2|abbr=on|frac=8}} in diameter, range in color from bright red to black, and possess a very astringent taste, being both somewhat sour and somewhat bitter. They get darker and marginally sweeter as they ripen. They each contain a large stone.

{{gallery|mode=packed

|File:Chokecherry2web.jpg|Chokecherry – habit

|File:SK-Prunus-Closeup.JPG|Leaf and drupes of plant in Saskatchewan

|File:2014-10-03 15 15 35 Chokecherry showing autumn foliage coloration along the main ridge of the Diamond Mountains south of Diamond Peak, Nevada.JPG|Autumn foliage

}}

Chokecherries are very high in antioxidant pigment compounds, such as anthocyanins. They share this property with chokeberries, further contributing to confusion.

The chokecherry is closely related to the black cherry (Prunus serotina) of eastern North America, which can reach {{Convert|100|ft|abbr=on|order=flip}} tall and has larger leaves and darker fruit. The chokecherry leaf has a finely serrated margin and is dark green above with a paler underside, while the black cherry leaf has numerous blunt edges along its margin and is dark green and smooth.{{cite book |last1=Elias |first1=Thomas S. |title=Edible Wild Plants A North American Field Guide |last2=Dykeman |first2=Peter A. |date=1990 |publisher=Sterling Publishing |isbn=0-8069-7488-5 |location=New York}}

The name chokecherry is also used for the related Manchurian cherry or Amur chokecherry (Prunus maackii).

• Prunus virginiana var. virginiana (eastern chokecherry)
• Prunus virginiana var. demissa (Nutt. ex Torr. & A.Gray) Torr. (western chokecherry)
• Prunus virginiana var. melanocarpa (A.Nelson) Sarg.{{cite book |last=Farrar |first=J.L. |url=https://archive.org/details/treesincanada0000farr |title=Trees in Canada |date=1995 |publisher=Fitzhenry & Whiteside |isbn=9781550411997 |location=Markham, Ontario |url-access=registration}}

The natural historic range of P. virginiana includes most of Canada (including Northwest Territories, but excluding Yukon, Nunavut, and Labrador), most of the United States (including Alaska, but excluding some states in the Southeast), and northern Mexico (Sonora, Chihuahua, Baja California, Durango, Zacatecas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León).{{BONAP|ref|genus=Prunus|species=virginiana|state=1}}{{cite web |title=Prunus virginiana: photos, partial distribution map |url=http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=3110 |website=SEINet, Arizona–New Mexico chapter}}{{additional citation needed|reason=Reference for Mexican part of range.|date=July 2018}}

It can be found in habitats ranging from streambanks to montane forests.{{Cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VLbAAwAAQBAJ |title=Trees & Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest |last2=Kuhlmann |first2=Ellen |date=2014 |publisher=Timber Press |isbn=978-1-60469-263-1 |edition=1st |location=Portland, OR |pages=253}}

The wild chokecherry is often considered a pest, as it is a host for the tent caterpillar, a threat to other fruit plants. It is also a larval host to the black-waved flannel moth, the blinded sphinx, the cecropia moth, the coral hairstreak, the cynthia moth, the elm sphinx, Glover's silkmoth, the hummingbird clearwing moth, the imperial moth, the Io moth, the polyphemus moth, the promethea moth, the red-spotted purple, the small-eyed sphinx, the spring azure, the striped hairstreak, the tiger swallowtail, the twin-spotted sphinx, and Weidemeyer's admiral.The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.

Many wildlife, including birds and game animals, eat the berries. Moose, elk, mountain sheep, deer and rabbits eat the foliage, twigs, leaves, and buds. Deer and elk sometimes browse the twigs profusely, not letting the plant grow above knee height. The leaves serve as food for caterpillars of various Lepidoptera.

The chokecherry has a number of cultivars. 'Canada Red' and 'Schubert' have leaves that mature to purple and turn orange and red in the autumn.{{cite web |title=Prunus virginiana--Chokecherry |url=http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modzz/00001191.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011126083620/http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modzz/00001191.html |archive-date=2001-11-26 |website=Michigan State University Extension |publisher=Michigan State University |department=Ornamental Plants plus Version 3.0}} 'Goertz' has a nonastringent, so palatable, fruit. Research at the University of Saskatchewan seeks to find or create new cultivars to increase production and processing.

The stone of the fruit is poisonous.{{cite book |last=Whitney |first=Stephen |url=https://archive.org/details/westernforests00whit/page/423 |title=Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides) |date=1985 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=0-394-73127-1 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/westernforests00whit/page/423 423]}} Chokecherry, including the foliage, is toxic to moose, cattle, goats, deer, and other animals with segmented stomachs (rumens), especially after the leaves have wilted (such as after a frost or after branches have been broken); wilting releases cyanide and makes the plant sweet. About {{Convert|4.5-9|kg|abbr=off|frac=2}} of foliage can be fatal. In horses, symptoms include heavy breathing, agitation, and weakness.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

File:Chokecherries being prepared for wojapi 2023.09.08.jpg dish.]]

For many Native American tribes of the Northern Rockies, Northern Plains, and boreal forest region of Canada and the United States, chokecherries are the most important fruit in their traditional diets and are part of pemmican, a staple traditional food. The bark of chokecherry root is made into an asperous-textured concoction used to ward off or treat colds, fever and stomach maladies by Native Americans.{{cite book |page=81 |title=Trees of Michigan and the Upper Great Lakes |edition=6th |first=Norman F. |last=Smith |publisher=Thunder Bay Press |date=2002}} The inner bark of the chokecherry, as well as red osier dogwood, or alder, is also used by some tribes in ceremonial smoking mixtures, known as kinnikinnick.{{cite web |date=2009 |url=http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=1355 |title=Bearberry |website=Discovering Lewis and Clark |publisher=The Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation |access-date=2011-04-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218093355/http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=1355 |archive-date=2010-12-18 |url-status=dead }} The chokecherry fruit can be eaten when fully ripe, but otherwise contains a toxin.{{Cite book|last=Benoliel|first=Doug|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/668195076|title=Northwest Foraging: The Classic Guide to Edible Plants of the Pacific Northwest|publisher=Skipstone|year=2011|isbn=978-1-59485-366-1|edition=Rev. and updated|location=Seattle, WA|pages=69|oclc=668195076}} The fruit can be used to make jam or syrup, but the bitter nature of the fruit requires sugar to sweeten the preserves.{{cite book |last=Gibbons |first=Euell |date=1962 |title=Stalking the Wild Asparagus |publisher=David McKay |place=New York}} The Plains Indians pound up the whole fruits—including the pits—in a mortar, from which they made sun-baked cakes.{{cite book |last=Peattie |first=Donald Culross |author-link=Donald C. Peattie |title=A Natural History of Western Trees |year=1953 |publisher=Bonanza Books |location=New York |pages=540–41}}

Chokecherry is also used to make wine in the Western United States, mainly in the Dakotas and Utah, as well as in Manitoba, Canada.

In 2007, North Dakota governor John Hoeven signed a bill naming the chokecherry the state's official fruit, in part because its remains have been found at more archeological sites in the Dakotas than anywhere else.{{cite book |last=Kindscher |first=K. |title=Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide |date=1987}}

• Choke pear

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons|Prunus virginiana}}

• {{PFAF|Prunus virginiana}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060501230654/http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/aginfo/trees/handbook/th-3-13.pdf North Dakota State University Agriculture, Chokecherry]
• [https://tools.myfooddata.com/nutrition-comparison.php?food1=35179&food2=35204 Nutrition Facts for Chokecherries]
• [https://www.paenflowered.org/apgii/rosales/rosaceae/prunus/prunus-virginiana Flora of Pennsylvania]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q162829}}

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Category:Bird cherries

virginiana

Category:Flora of Northern America

Category:Edible nuts and seeds

Category:Garden plants of North America

Category:Plants used in Native American cuisine

Category:Plants used in traditional Native American medicine

Category:Plants described in 1753

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus