Burke: Prunus virginiana vs. Prunus yedoensis

	Prunus virginiana	Prunus yedoensis
	common chokecherry, western chokecherry, white chokecherry	Yoshino cherry
Habit	Deciduous, erect shrubs or small trees, 1-5 m. tall, the bark purplish-gray.
Leaves	Leaf blades elliptic to oblong-obovate, finely serrate, 4-10 cm. long, bright green and glabrous on the upper surface, paler and glabrous to pubescent beneath.
Flowers	Inflorescence a terminal, pendant, many-flowered raceme, the uniform pedicels 4-8 mm. long; calyx glabrous, the 5 lobes spreading to recurved, oval, finely glandular, 1-1.5 mm. long; petals 5, creamy white, sub-orbicular, early-deciduous, 4-6 mm. long; stamens about 25; pistil 1.
Fruits	Drupe ovoid, 8-11 mm. long, red to purple or black.

	Prunus virginiana	Prunus yedoensis
Flowering time	May-July	March-April
Habitat	Thickets, open forest, shorelines, rocky slopes, and roadsides.	Thickets and shorelines, often where disturbed.
Distribution	Widely distributed on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring west of the Cascades crest in lowland western Washington; also occurring in central California. [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Introduced from Japan
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	P. americana, P. armeniaca, P. avium, P. cerasifera, P. cerasus, P. domestica, P. dulcis, P. emarginata, P. laurocerasus, P. lusitanica, P. mahaleb, P. padus, P. persica, P. ×pugetensis, P. spinosa, P. tomentosa, P. yedoensis	P. americana, P. armeniaca, P. avium, P. cerasifera, P. cerasus, P. domestica, P. dulcis, P. emarginata, P. laurocerasus, P. lusitanica, P. mahaleb, P. padus, P. persica, P. ×pugetensis, P. spinosa, P. tomentosa, P. virginiana
Web links	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Prunus virginiana

Prunus yedoensis

common chokecherry, western chokecherry, white chokecherry

Yoshino cherry

Habit

Deciduous, erect shrubs or small trees, 1-5 m. tall, the bark purplish-gray.

Leaves

Leaf blades elliptic to oblong-obovate, finely serrate, 4-10 cm. long, bright green and glabrous on the upper surface, paler and glabrous to pubescent beneath.

Flowers

Inflorescence a terminal, pendant, many-flowered raceme, the uniform pedicels 4-8 mm. long;

calyx glabrous, the 5 lobes spreading to recurved, oval, finely glandular, 1-1.5 mm. long;

petals 5, creamy white, sub-orbicular, early-deciduous, 4-6 mm. long;

stamens about 25;

pistil 1.

Fruits

Drupe ovoid, 8-11 mm. long, red to purple or black.

Prunus virginiana

Prunus yedoensis

Flowering time

May-July

March-April

Habitat

Thickets, open forest, shorelines, rocky slopes, and roadsides.

Thickets and shorelines, often where disturbed.

Distribution

Widely distributed on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]