Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana): how to identify it

Chokecherry vs black cherry

These two share drooping strings of white flowers and dark fruit, and the cherry tree identification page covers the wider genus. The field tests:

Black cherry figures are from NC State's black cherry page; the midrib and sepal tests are from Minnesota Wildflowers. Northern Woodlands also notes that chokecherry leaves lack the tufts of fur under the midrib that black cherry has. On a young black cherry without plated bark, the leaf underside is the most reliable check.

Chokeberry (Aronia) is the other common confusion, because the names differ by one letter. NC State's black chokeberry page describes a multi-stemmed shrub of 3 to 10 feet with tiny flowers in clusters of 5 or 6 and blackish fruit about 1/2 inch across. It never forms a tree, and its flowers and fruit sit in small bunches rather than long strings.

Common buckthorn also carries black fruit, but in tight clusters along the twig rather than in strings, with a thorn at the twig tip; the buckthorn page covers it.

Varieties, range and 'Canada Red'

Oregon State University's Landscape Plants database gives the species range as Newfoundland to British Columbia, south to North Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, California and northern Mexico. It lists three varieties:

• Eastern or common chokecherry (var. virginiana): widespread across southern Canada and much of the United States.
• Western chokecherry (var. demissa): a thicket-forming shrub from British Columbia south into Washington, Oregon, California, northern Mexico and Texas.
• Black chokecherry (var. melanocarpa): southern Canada, the Rocky Mountains, the east slope of the Cascades and southern Oregon to northern California.

NC State gives USDA hardiness zones 2 to 6, which is why chokecherry is common on the Prairies; Minnesota Wildflowers notes it in forests, prairie margins and mid-alpine areas. For other trees of that region, see the Manitoba and Saskatchewan tree identification guide.

In yards and boulevards, the common form is 'Canada Red'. Oregon State describes leaves that open green and turn dark purple, with about 90% of the foliage purple by June. A purple-leaved small tree with cherry flower spikes is almost always this cultivar; the guide to trees with purple leaves sets it beside purple-leaf plum and copper beech.

Toxicity and black knot

NC State Extension states that chokecherry's "stems, leaves, seeds contain cyanide, particularly toxic in the process of wilting", and lists symptoms in animals that include difficulty breathing and dilated pupils. Northern Woodlands reports that the twigs and foliage are eaten by many wild animals but are toxic to cattle and sheep in large quantities, usually when other forage is scarce. Over 70 bird species eat the fruit, according to the same article.

Never eat a berry, fruit, leaf or seed on the strength of a web page or an app; check with a local expert. Tree Identifier's Toxicology tool gives AI-written notes for people, dogs and cats, which is a starting point for questions, not a verdict. Dark fruits on other trees are covered in our guide to trees with black berries.

Black knot is the disease you are most likely to see on a chokecherry. Northern Woodlands describes elongated, black, misshapen galls on the twigs, and badly affected shrubs look severely disfigured. The fungus affects only the genus Prunus, cherries and plums, so a shrub covered in black knots is almost certainly one of those.

Chokecherry is not one of the 138 species in Tree Identifier's Collection, though a photo still returns a name. Saving the find to the app's Tree Map lets you come back in late summer to check the fruit color and the leaf underside.