General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Shrub
Tree
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Full Sun to Partial Shade
Water Preferences: Mesic
Soil pH Preferences: Slightly acid (6.1 – 6.5)
Neutral (6.6 – 7.3)
Slightly alkaline (7.4 – 7.8)
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 2 -45.6 °C (-50 °F) to -42.8 °C (-45°F)
Maximum recommended zone: Zone 6b
Plant Height: 15-30 feet
Leaves: Good fall color
Deciduous
Fruit: Edible to birds
Fruiting Time: Late summer or early fall
Flowers: Showy
Fragrant
Flower Color: White
Bloom Size: Under 1"
Flower Time: Spring
Uses: Flowering Tree
Medicinal Herb
Edible Parts: Fruit
Eating Methods: Cooked
Wildlife Attractant: Bees
Birds
Propagation: Other methods: Offsets
Pollinators: Hoverflies
Bees
Miscellaneous: Monoecious

Image
Common names
  • Chokecherry
  • Virginia Bird Cherry
  • Bitter Cherry
  • Common Chokecherry
  • Choke Cherry
Botanical names
  • Accepted: Prunus virginiana
  • Synonym: Padus nana

Photo Gallery
Location: Soda Springs, Idaho, United States
Date: 2021-08-22

Date: August 2018
Location: Ingleside. Illinois
Date: 2021-05-08

Date: 2022-06-09
KODAK Digital Still Camera
Location: Power County, Idaho, United States
Date: 2021-08-21

Date: 2022-06-09
KODAK Digital Still Camera

Date: 2022-06-09
KODAK Digital Still Camera

Date: August 2018
Location: Canada
Location: Twisp
Location: Canada
Location: Heathcote Ontario Canada
Date: 2020    July
Prunus virginiana     fruit clusters
Location: Heathcote Ontario Canada
Date: 2020  May
Prunus virginiana    flowers
Location: Power County, Idaho, United States
Date: 2021-08-21
Location: Power County, Idaho, United States
Date: 2021-08-21
Location: Twisp
Date: September
Location: Ingleside. Illinois
Date: 2021-05-08
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2016-07-18
mature trunk of planted tree at arboretum
Location: Twisp
Date: October

Date: 2004-06-06
Credit: Steven J. Baskauf (http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/)
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2016-07-18
maturing trees together
Location: Ingleside. Illinois
Date: 2021-05-08
Location: Indiana Dunes State Park
Date: 2016-07-16
young plant in dunes
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2016-07-18
sprouts around trunk

Credit NPS
Location: Tennessee
Date: 2004-06-06
Credit: Steven J. Baskauf (http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/)

Date: 2004-06-06
Credit: Steven J. Baskauf (http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/)

Date: 2004-06-06
Credit: Steven J. Baskauf (http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/)
Location: Tennessee
Date: 2004-06-06
Credit: Steven J. Baskauf (http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/)

Credit NPS
Location: Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois
Date: 2016-07-18
summer foliage
Location: Indiana Dunes State Park in nw IN
Date: 2016-07-16
a few not yet ripe fruit
Location: Las Cruces, NM
Date: Apr 16, 2012
Location: Las Cruces, NM
Date: Apr 16, 2012
Location: Las Cruces, NM
Date: Apr 16, 2012
Location: Las Cruces, NM
Date: Apr 16, 2012
Location: central Illinois
Date: 2012-08-06
Location: central Illinois
Date: 2012-08-07
Location: central Illinois
Date: 2012-08-07
Location: Twisp
Date: 2015-05-17
This plant is tagged in:
Image Image Image

Comments:
  • Posted by ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Dec 15, 2017 8:51 PM concerning plant:
    The Common Chokecherry has a huge native range of the southern half of Canada down into the mountains of southern California over around the Great Lakes to New England down the Appalachians to northern Georgia. Despite that, I've only seen a few at Morton Arboretum that were planted and a few small wild ones on the dunes of Indiana Dunes State Park in northwest Indiana. In northern Illinois, eastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, southeast Pennsylvania and Delaware I keep finding lots of her big sister, the Wild Black Cherry (P. serotina) that has longer, sharper leaves, but I have not seen any wild Chokecherries. I think she is more common farther west and north in her native range. The Common Chokecherry is usually a small bushy tree to 25 feet high, but it can be a multi-trunk small tree or a single trunk tree up to 35 to 50 feet high. The leaves are sort of rounded, being 2 to 4 inches long by 1 to 2 inches wide. It is fast growing of 2 to 3 feet/year and lives about 100 to 150 years. It has a shallow, fibrous root system and is easy to transplant. The cultivar called 'Shubert' or Canada' Red' is grown by conventional nurseries in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic and is a small, single-trunked, ornamental tree whose foliage turns purplish-red during summer.
  • Posted by Marilyn (Kentucky - Zone 6a) on Aug 28, 2013 11:43 PM concerning plant:
    State fruit of North Dakota.

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