Prunus virginiana

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids I
Ordoo: Rosales

Familia: Rosaceae
Subfamilia: Amygdaloideae
Tribus: Amygdaleae
Genus: Prunus
Subgenus: P. subg. Cerasus
Sectio: P. sect. Laurocerasus
Species: Prunus virginiana
Varieties: P. v. var. demissa – P. v. var. melanocarpa – P. v. var. virginiana
Name

Prunus virginiana L.
References

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum. Tomus I: 473. Reference page.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Prunus virginiana in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service.

Vernacular names
беларуская: Чаромха віргінская
Deutsch: Virginische Traubenkirsche
English: choke cherry, bitter-berry, Virginia bird cherry
suomi: Virginiantuomi
français: Cerisier de Virginie
hrvatski: Virginijska borovnica
hornjoserbsce: Virginska kitkata wišnja
lietuvių: Virgininė ieva
Nāhuatl: Tlaōlcapolcuahuitl
polski: Czeremcha wirginijska
Runa Simi: Kapuli
русский: Черёмуха виргинская
svenska: Virginiahägg
українська: Черемха вірджинська

Prunus virginiana, commonly called bitter-berry,[3] chokecherry,[3] Virginia bird cherry,[3] and western chokecherry[3] (also black chokecherry for P. virginiana var. demissa),[3] is a species of bird cherry (Prunus subgenus Padus) native to North America. 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).[4][5][6]
Description

Chokecherry is a suckering shrub or small tree growing to 1–6 m (3 ft 3 in–19 ft 8 in) tall, rarely to 10 m (32 ft 10 in). The leaves are oval, 2.5–10 cm (1–4 in) long and 1.2–5 cm (1⁄2–2 in) wide, with a serrated margin.[6] The stems rarely exceed 2 cm (3⁄4 in) in length.[7]

The flowers are produced in racemes 4–11 cm (1+1⁄2–4+1⁄4 in) long in late spring (well after leaf emergence). They are 8–13 mm (1⁄4–1⁄2 in) across.[8][9]

The fruits (drupes) are about 6–14 mm (1⁄4–1⁄2 in) 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.[6] They each contain a large stone.[7]
Characteristics

Chokecherries are very high in antioxidant pigment compounds, such as anthocyanins. They share this property with chokeberries, further contributing to confusion.[6]

Varieties[10][2]

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.

Chokecherry – habit

The wild chokecherry is often considered a pest, as it is a host for the tent caterpillar, a threat to other fruit plants. Other, more appreciated cultivars of the chokecherry are known. 'Canada Red' and 'Schubert' have leaves that mature to purple and turn orange and red in the autumn.[11] '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.
Leaf of Saskatchewan plant

The chokecherry is closely related to the black cherry (Prunus serotina) of eastern North America; it is most readily distinguished from that by its smaller size (black cherry trees can reach 100 ft tall), smaller leaves, and sometimes red ripe 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.[6][12]

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

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.[13] 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.[14] The chokecherry fruit can be eaten when fully ripe, but otherwise contains a toxin.[15] The fruit can be used to make jam or syrup, but the bitter nature of the fruit requires sugar to sweeten the preserves.[16] The Plains Indians pound up the whole fruits—including the toxic pits—in a mortar, from which they made sun-baked cakes.[17]

The stone of the fruit is poisonous.[18] Chokecherry is toxic to horses, 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), because wilting releases cyanide and makes the plant sweet. The leaves themselves being poisonous,[7] about 10–20 lb of foliage can be fatal. Symptoms of a horse that has been poisoned include heavy breathing, agitation, and weakness. Many wildlife, including birds and game animals, eat the berries.[7] Moose, elk, mountain sheep, deer and rabbits eat the foliage, twigs, leaves, and buds.[7] The leaves serve as food for caterpillars of various Lepidoptera.

In 2007, Governor John Hoeven signed a bill naming the chokecherry the official fruit of the state of North Dakota, in part because its remains have been found at more archeological sites in the Dakotas than anywhere else.[19]

Chokecherry is also used to craft wine[7] in the Western United States, mainly in the Dakotas and Utah, as well as in Manitoba, Canada.
Ecology

It is 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.[20]
Autumn foliage
See also

Choke pear

References

Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).; IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group (2018). "Prunus virginiana". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T64133468A135957714. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T64133468A135957714.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
"Prunus virginiana". Richard Pankhurst et al. Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. Retrieved January 27, 2014 – via The Plant List.
"Prunus virginiana". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved February 28, 2013.
"Prunus virginiana". State-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
"Prunus virginiana: photos, partial distribution map". SEINet, Arizona–New Mexico chapter.
Rohrer, Joseph R. (2014). "Prunus virginiana". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 9. New York and Oxford – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
Angier, Bradford (1974). Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books. p. 52. ISBN 0-8117-0616-8. OCLC 799792.
Hilty, John (2016). "Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana)". Illinois Wildflowers.
Chayka, Katy; Dziuk, Peter (2016). "Prunus virginiana (Chokecherry)". Minnesota Wildflowers.
Farrar, J.L. (1995). Trees in Canada. Markham, Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside. ISBN 9781550411997.
"Prunus virginiana--Chokecherry". Ornamental Plants plus Version 3.0. Michigan State University Extension. Michigan State University. Archived from the original on 2001-11-26.
Elias, Thomas S.; Dykeman, Peter A. (1990). Edible Wild Plants A North American Field Guide. New York: Sterling Publishing. ISBN 0-8069-7488-5.
Smith, Norman F. (2002). Trees of Michigan and the Upper Great Lakes (6th ed.). Thunder Bay Press. p. 81.
"Bearberry". Discovering Lewis and Clark. The Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation. 2009. Archived from the original on 2010-12-18. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
Benoliel, Doug (2011). Northwest Foraging: The Classic Guide to Edible Plants of the Pacific Northwest (Rev. and updated ed.). Seattle, WA: Skipstone. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-59485-366-1. OCLC 668195076.
Gibbons, Euell (1962). Stalking the Wild Asparagus. New York: David McKay.
Peattie, Donald Culross (1953). A Natural History of Western Trees. New York: Bonanza Books. pp. 540–41.
Whitney, Stephen (1985). Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides). New York: Knopf. p. 423. ISBN 0-394-73127-1.
Kindscher, K. (1987). Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide.
The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.