Prunus virginiana
Prunus cerasus
bitter-berry, choke cherry, common chokecherry, Virginia bird cherry, western chokecherry, white chokecherry
cerisier acide, cultivated sour cherry, pie cherry, sour cherry
with terminal end buds, glabrous or hairy.
with terminal end buds, glabrous.
deciduous;
petiole 4–22(–27) mm, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy, glandular distally, glands 2, discoid;
blade obovate or elliptic to ovate or oblanceolate, 2.5–9(–11) × 1.2–5(–6.6), base cuneate to rounded or subcordate, margins serrulate to serrate, teeth ascending to spreading, usually sharp, eglandular, sometimes callus-tipped, obscurely glandular, lateral veins 6–13 per side, raised abaxially, apex acuminate, acute, or obtuse, abaxial surface glabrous or hairy (especially along midribs), adaxial glabrous.
deciduous;
petiole 10–24 mm, glabrous, usually eglandular, sometimes with discoid marginal glands at bases of blades;
blade broadly elliptic to ovate or obovate, 4.4–6(–8) × 2.8–4(–6) cm, base obtuse to rounded, margins doubly crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex acute to abruptly acuminate, abaxial surface glabrous or glabrate, adaxial glabrous.
18–64-flowered, racemes;
central axes (18–)40–110(–130) mm, leafy at bases.
1–4-flowered, umbellate fascicles.
2–8(–16) mm, usually glabrous, rarely hairy.
8–37 mm, glabrous.
blooming after leaf emergence;
hypanthium cupulate, 1.5–3 mm, glabrous externally;
sepals erect-spreading to reflexed, semicircular, 0.7–1.4 mm, margins erose, usually glandular-toothed, sometimes nearly eglandular, surfaces glabrous;
petals white, obovate to suborbiculate, 2–5(–7) mm;
ovaries glabrous.
blooming at leaf emergence;
hypanthium tubular-campanulate, 4–6 mm, glabrous externally;
sepals reflexed, oblong, 4–7 mm, margins regularly glandular-toothed, surfaces glabrous;
petals white, suborbiculate, 10–14 mm;
ovaries glabrous.
red, purple, dark purple, or black, globose, 6–14 mm, glabrous;
hypanthium deciduous, leaving discs at bases of drupes;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones subglobose to ellipsoid, not flattened, ± smooth.
bright red, globose, 13–20 mm, glabrous;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones subglobose, not flattened.
= 32.
Prunus virginiana
Prunus cerasus
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Because of variation in the degree of hairiness on branches and leaves, thickness of leaves, leaf shape, sizes of racemes and flowers, and colors of fruits, Prunus virginiana has been split into forms, varieties, and segregate species. When viewed on a continental scale, most of the key characteristics used to separate these taxa intergrade enough so as to be useless.
The most useful distinction is between chokecherries found east of the Rocky Mountains and those found from the mountains westward. They differ in leaf shape and raceme size; the variation is imperfectly correlated. The eastern plants generally have their larger leaves obovate with lengths less than two times widths, racemes typically less than 7 cm, and petals to 4 mm. Plants of the Rockies and west have longer racemes and larger petals, and generally their larger leaves are elliptic to oblanceolate leaves with lengths two or more times widths. Distinctions between the eastern and western varieties are least obvious from Montana to eastern Washington north into British Columbia, where the varietal ranges overlap. Plants of the High Plains show intergradation between those of the Rockies and those of the East. The taxonomic solution provided here is a single species of chokecherry in North America with an eastern and a western variety that overlap in range along a line from northeastern New Mexico to southwestern British Columbia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Cultivars of Prunus cerasus with doubled flowers are used as landscape ornamentals. Most of the commercial sour cherry crop in North America comes from Michigan. Unlike sweet cherry, all widely grown varieties of sour cherry are self-fertile. Bud scales at the bases of the pedicels on flowering and immature fruiting specimens of P. cerasus often have leaflike apices and the inner scales are erect; in P. avium the scales are not leaflike and the inner ones are reflexed or spreading.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Racemes (18–)40–70(–95) mm; petals (2–)2.5–4 mm; leaf blades usually obovate, lengths of larger less than 2 times widths. | var. virginiana |
1. Racemes (30–)60–110(–130) mm; petals 4–5(–7) mm; leaf blades elliptic to oblanceolate, lengths of larger at least 2 times widths. | var. demissa |
- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
CalFlora, CalPhotos, 
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria, 
SW CO Wildflowers, 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: OR, WA
- Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, Go Botany, IL Wildflowers, KS Wildflowers, MD Biodiversity, MI Flora, MO Plants, PNW Herbaria
- WildflowerSearch
- iNaturalist (observations)
- USDA Plants Database
- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
