Prunus virginiana |
Prunus umbellata |
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bitter-berry, choke cherry, common chokecherry, Virginia bird cherry, western chokecherry, white chokecherry |
Alleghany plum, flatwood plum, hog or flatwoods or Allegheny plum, hog plum, sloe |
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Habit | Shrubs or trees, often suckering, 10–60(–100) dm, not thorny. | Shrubs or trees, sometimes suckering, 10–60 dm, moderately thorny. | ||||
Twigs | with terminal end buds, glabrous or hairy. |
with axillary end buds, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy. |
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Leaves | 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 3–14 mm, hairy, usually eglandular, sometimes hairy only adaxially, glandular distally, glands 1–3, discoid; blade usually elliptic to broadly elliptic, sometimes oblanceolate to obovate, 3.5–8 × 1.5–4 cm, base usually cuneate to obtuse, rarely rounded, margins finely, usually singly serrulate, sometimes doubly serrate, teeth sharp, usually eglandular, sometimes glandular, glands blackish, spheric, apex usually acute, sometimes short-acuminate, abaxial surface hairy to glabrate, adaxial glabrous. |
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Inflorescences | 18–64-flowered, racemes; central axes (18–)40–110(–130) mm, leafy at bases. |
2–4(–6)-flowered, umbellate fascicles. |
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Pedicels | 2–8(–16) mm, usually glabrous, rarely hairy. |
5–22 mm, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy. |
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Flowers | 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 tubular (often tubular-urceolate when dried), 2–4 mm, glabrous or hairy externally; sepals erect-spreading, ovate-oblong, 1.5–2.5 mm, margins usually entire, sometimes 2-fid at apices, ciliate, abaxial surface hairy or glabrous, adaxial hairy; petals white, sometimes turning pink, obovate to suborbiculate, 3–8 mm; ovaries glabrous. |
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Drupes | 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, yellow, dark blue, or nearly black, glaucous, globose, 10–15 mm, glabrous; mesocarps fleshy; stones ovoid, slightly to ± flattened. |
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Prunus virginiana |
Prunus umbellata |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–May; fruiting Jul–Sep. | |||||
Habitat | Sandy pine or oak woods, sandy barrens, shale ridges, limestone bluffs, rocky upland woods, old fields, roadsides | |||||
Elevation | 10–800 m (0–2600 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; Mexico
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AL; AR; CT; FL; GA; LA; MA; MD; MI; MS; NC; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
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Discussion | 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.) |
Traditionally treated as distinct species, Prunus alleghaniensis from the Appalachians and P. umbellata from southeastern United States are very similar; their ranges overlap in North Carolina and Tennessee. Similar plants disjunct in Michigan have been called P. alleghaniensis var. davisii. Morphological characters (petiole length, shape of blade along with its base and apex, degree of suckering) that have been used to separate these taxa vary as much within each taxon as among them. Since they can be separated only by geographic distribution, they are combined in this treatment. Some specimens from Connecticut with hairy twigs, petioles, pedicels, and hypanthia were determined as Prunus alleghaniensis by Eames a century ago and do seem to fit within P. umbellata. Other Connecticut specimens determined as P. alleghaniensis (for example, Eames 121, MICH) with scattered glandular teeth on the sepals seem better placed in P. americana. The sole specimen known from Massachusetts (Pease 10,005, NEBC) has singly serrate leaves evenly tapered at both ends as in P. umbellata, but larger petals and reflexed sepals like those of P. americana. In the southeastern United States, hairy forms have been called Prunus injucunda or P. mitis; the degree of indument on the twigs, petioles, leaf surfaces, pedicels, hypanthia, and sepals is subject to much trivial variation throughout the southeast, the Appalachians, and in Michigan. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 365. | FNA vol. 9, p. 380. | ||||
Parent taxa | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Amygdaleae > Prunus | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | P. alleghaniensis, P. alleghaniensis var. davisii, P. injucunda, P. mitis, P. umbellata var. injucunda | |||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 473. (1753) | Elliott: Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 541. (1821) | ||||
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