Burke: Prunus virginiana vs. Prunus cerasifera

	Prunus virginiana	Prunus cerasifera
	common chokecherry, western chokecherry, white chokecherry	cherry plum
Habit	Deciduous, erect shrubs or small trees, 1-5 m. tall, the bark purplish-gray.	Deciduous, glabrous and spineless shrub or small tree with glossy, green twigs.
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, finely serrate, 4-7 cm. long, shiny, green or red-purple.
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.	Flowers appearing with the leaves; petals 5, white or pink; stamens 20-30; pistil 1.
Fruits	Drupe ovoid, 8-11 mm. long, red to purple or black.	Globose drupe, yellow or red.
Comments		Naturalizes from ornamental purple-leaved, pink-flowered selections.

	Prunus virginiana	Prunus cerasifera
Flowering time	May-July	March-April
Habitat	Thickets, open forest, shorelines, rocky slopes, and roadsides.	Open, disturbed areas typically at low elevations.
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 and in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington, but also in southeastern Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Idaho; also in northeastern North America. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Introduced
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. 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, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, 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 cerasifera

common chokecherry, western chokecherry, white chokecherry

cherry plum

Habit

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

Deciduous, glabrous and spineless shrub or small tree with glossy, green twigs.

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, finely serrate, 4-7 cm. long, shiny, green or red-purple.

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.

Flowers appearing with the leaves;

petals 5, white or pink;

stamens 20-30;

pistil 1.

Fruits

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

Globose drupe, yellow or red.

Comments

Naturalizes from ornamental purple-leaved, pink-flowered selections.

Prunus cerasifera

Flowering time

May-July

March-April

Habitat

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

Open, disturbed areas typically at low elevations.

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 and in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington, but also in southeastern Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Idaho; also in northeastern North America.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Origin

Native

Introduced

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa