Prunus virginiana
Prunus murrayana
bitter-berry, choke cherry, common chokecherry, Virginia bird cherry, western chokecherry, white chokecherry
Murray's plum, Murray's plume
with terminal end buds, glabrous or hairy.
with axillary end buds, hairy.
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 8–16 mm, usually hairy on both surfaces, sometimes only on adaxial surface, usually glandular distally, glands 1–4;
blade lanceolate to elliptic or ovate, usually folded along midribs, 3.5–7.5 × 1.5–3.5 cm, base obtuse to rounded, margins singly to doubly crenate-serrate, teeth blunt, glandular, apex usually acuminate, sometimes acute, abaxial surface glabrous or ± hairy along midribs and veins, 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.
4–14 mm, hairy.
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 campanulate, 2–2.5 mm, hairy externally;
sepals erect to reflexed, ovate, 1.5–2 mm, margins glandular-toothed, abaxial surface glabrate or hairy, adaxial densely hairy at bases;
petals white, obovate, 4–8 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.
red with white dots, slightly to quite glaucous, globose, 10–18 mm, glabrous;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones ovoid, ± flattened.
Prunus virginiana
Prunus murrayana
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.)
Prunus murrayana was long known only from trans-Pecos Texas. M. F. Enquist (1997) expanded the range by recognizing the similarity of these plants to plants from the Edwards Plateau, which he described as a hairy variety of P. rivularis and placed P. murrayana in synonymy. Sequence analysis of DNA from some of the same hairy plants collected by Enquist indicate that these plants are distinct from P. rivularis and are most similar to P. hortulana (J. R. Rohrer et al. 2008). Prunus murrayana is a smaller plant than P. hortulana, with smaller leaves and fruits. Also, P. murrayana suckers to form shrubby thickets; P. hortulana generally forms single trees. The twigs, pedicels, and hypanthium exteriors are hairy in P. murrayana and glabrous in P. hortulana.
(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
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USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
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