Burke: Prunus virginiana vs. Prunus avium

	Prunus virginiana	Prunus avium
	common chokecherry, western chokecherry, white chokecherry	sweet cherry
Habit	Deciduous, erect shrubs or small trees, 1-5 m. tall, the bark purplish-gray.	Deciduous tree with peeling red-brown bark, to 25 m. tall.
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.	Leaves alternate, oval and pointed, finely serrate, green above and somewhat downy beneath, with 2 conspicuous red glands at the top of the petiole.
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.	Inflorescence a loose cluster of 2-6 flowers; petals 5, white, up to 15 mm. long; stamens 20-30; pistil 1.
Fruits	Drupe ovoid, 8-11 mm. long, red to purple or black.	Fruit a drupe, globose, yellow, becoming dark red, strongly acid.

	Prunus virginiana	Prunus avium
Flowering time	May-July	April-May
Habitat	Thickets, open forest, shorelines, rocky slopes, and roadsides.	Forest edges, fields, wastelots, and other disturbed areas.
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 chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington, though distributed widely throughout the state; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains, also in eastern North America. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Introduced from Eurasia
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. 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, P. yedoensis
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: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Prunus virginiana

Prunus avium

common chokecherry, western chokecherry, white chokecherry

sweet cherry

Habit

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

Deciduous tree with peeling red-brown bark, to 25 m. tall.

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.

Leaves alternate, oval and pointed, finely serrate, green above and somewhat downy beneath, with 2 conspicuous red glands at the top of the petiole.

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.

Inflorescence a loose cluster of 2-6 flowers;

petals 5, white, up to 15 mm. long;

stamens 20-30;

pistil 1.

Fruits

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

Fruit a drupe, globose, yellow, becoming dark red, strongly acid.

Prunus virginiana

Prunus avium

Flowering time

May-July

April-May

Habitat

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

Forest edges, fields, wastelots, and other disturbed areas.

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 chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington, though distributed widely throughout the state; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains, also in eastern North America.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Origin

Native

Introduced from Eurasia

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa