CHOKECHERRY

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Red-Fruited
Choke Cherry
(Prunus virginiana)

Black-Fruited
Choke Cherry
(Prunus virginiana var. melanocarpa)

Both kinds of chokecherry occur in Manitoba, but the black-fruited variety is much more common. The red-fruited chokecherry occurs occasionally in the southwestern part of the province. Other than the colour of their fruits the two plants are hard to tell apart. And it is only when the cherries are fully ripe that you can do this. The fruit of the black-fruited chokecherry starts out reddish in colour before turning black when fully ripe. Chokecherries are common throughout forested parts of Manitoba, but are most common, and grow best, in the deciduous forests of the southwestern 1/3 of the province.

The chokecherry is a tall shrub or occasionally a small tree (as high as 5 m, with 10 cm diameter trunks). It usually grows as a dense shrub with many upright stems. It can spread quite rapidly from underground suckers. The long spikes of flowers bloom in June and the "cherries", (drupes) ripen in August.

Chokecherries are usually too bitter or astringent tasting (hence the name "choke"cherry) to eat raw, though some people find them tasty, especially after the berries have aged a while. Jellies and wine-making seem to be the most common uses for chokecherries. Their taste is not a problem for many birds and small mammals that readily consume the cherries once they are ripe.