Prunus virginiana
Prunus rivularis
bitter-berry, choke cherry, common chokecherry, Virginia bird cherry, western chokecherry, white chokecherry
creek plum, creek plume, hog plume
with terminal end buds, glabrous or hairy.
with axillary 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 7–21 mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy on adaxial surface, glandular distally, glands 1–4;
blade lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or elliptic to narrowly elliptic, usually folded along midribs, 4–11 × 1.5–5 cm, base obtuse to rounded, margins singly to doubly crenate-serrulate, teeth blunt, glandular, glands inconspicuous, blackish, apex usually acuminate, sometimes acute, abaxial surface glabrous or ± hairy along midribs and veins, adaxial usually glabrous, rarely midribs hairy.
18–64-flowered, racemes;
central axes (18–)40–110(–130) mm, leafy at bases.
2–4-flowered, umbellate fascicles.
2–8(–16) mm, usually glabrous, rarely hairy.
3–15 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 before or at leaf emergence;
hypanthium campanulate, 2–3 mm, usually glabrous, rarely glabrate, externally;
sepals broadly spreading to reflexed, oblong-ovate, 1.5–2.5 mm, margins glandular-toothed, abaxial surface glabrous or sparsely hairy, adaxial densely hairy at bases;
petals white, obovate, 4–7 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.
usually red, sometimes yellowish orange, with white dots, not or only slightly glaucous, globose, 12–25 mm, glabrous;
mesocarps fleshy;
stones ovoid to subglobose, ± flattened.
Prunus virginiana
Prunus rivularis
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 munsoniana is here placed in synonymy with P. rivularis, greatly expanding the range of the latter compared to its traditional treatment. Descriptions of P. munsoniana and P. rivularis differ mostly in size of the plants, leaves, and floral structures. As suggested by G. M. Diggs et al. (1999), P. munsoniana is simply a larger version of P. rivularis.
Evidence from analysis of DNA sequences of two nuclear genes in native plums (J. R. Rohrer et al. 2008) indicates that Prunus rivularis may be an allopolyploid. Three plants sequenced from Texas contained alleles seemingly derived from P. angustifolia on the one hand and P. hortulana (or P. murrayana) on the other. Further, two individuals determined as P. munsoniana, one each from Pennsylvania and Texas, had sequences very similar to those of P. rivularis.
Other specimens in herbaria labeled as Prunus munsoniana include hybrids between P. americana and P. angustifolia, as well as individuals of P. hortulana that bloom before the leaves emerge or that sucker freely.
(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 |
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PNW Herbaria, 
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