Chokecherry

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

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, ⅜″ 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 ⅛″ 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 4″long, and 1¼″ to 2⅜″ wide. They are 1.4 to 2 times as long as wide. They are attached to the twig on ⅜″ 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 ¾″wide. Each flower is on a hairless, ⅛″ to 5 ⁄16″ long stalk.

The flowers are ⅜″ 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, ⅛″ to 3⁄16″ 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 ⅛″ wide. The stamens have ⅛″ long, translucent green filaments and yellow anthers.

The fruit is a fleshy, one-seeded, spherical or inversely egg-shaped, 5 ⁄16″to 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 ⅓ 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

Sources

2, 3, 5, 7, 24, 28, 30, 83.

Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu. Accessed 2/15/2025).

Midwest Herbaria Portal. 2026. https://midwestherbaria.org/portal/index.php. Accessed 2/15/2025.

Prunus virginiana var. virginiana L. in GBIF Secretariat (2023). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org. Accessed 2/15/2025.

Smith, Welby R. 2008. Trees and Shrubs of Minnesota: The Complete Guide to Species Identification. The University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN.