Burke: Prunus virginiana vs. Prunus spinosa

	Prunus virginiana	Prunus spinosa
	common chokecherry, western chokecherry, white chokecherry	blackthorn
Habit	Deciduous, erect shrubs or small trees, 1-5 m. tall, the bark purplish-gray.	Deciduous, rigid, thorny shrub, 1-4 m. tall, often forming dense thickets; twigs blackish, often downy when young.
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, elliptic-ovate to obovate, finely serrate, 2-4 cm. long, not shiny.
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 solitary from each of the numerous nodes of the spur, appearing before the leaves; pedicels glabrous, 10-15 mm. long; calyx glabrous; petals 5, white, oblong-obovate, 5-7 mm. long.
Fruits	Drupe ovoid, 8-11 mm. long, red to purple or black.	Drupe globose, deep bluish-purple, glaucous, 10-15 mm. broad; pit sub-globose, rough-pitted.

	Prunus virginiana	Prunus spinosa
Flowering time	May-July	April-May
Habitat	Thickets, open forest, shorelines, rocky slopes, and roadsides.	Moist draws, thickets, hillsides, roadsides, and railroads.
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 in scattered locations on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; southwestern British Columbia to southern Oregon, east to Idaho. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Introduced from Eurasia and northern Africa
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. 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 spinosa

common chokecherry, western chokecherry, white chokecherry

blackthorn

Habit

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

Deciduous, rigid, thorny shrub, 1-4 m. tall, often forming dense thickets; twigs blackish, often downy when young.

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, elliptic-ovate to obovate, finely serrate, 2-4 cm. long, not shiny.

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 solitary from each of the numerous nodes of the spur, appearing before the leaves;

pedicels glabrous, 10-15 mm. long;

calyx glabrous;

petals 5, white, oblong-obovate, 5-7 mm. long.

Fruits

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

Drupe globose, deep bluish-purple, glaucous, 10-15 mm. broad; pit sub-globose, rough-pitted.

Prunus virginiana

Prunus spinosa

Flowering time

May-July

April-May

Habitat

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

Moist draws, thickets, hillsides, roadsides, and railroads.

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]