Choke cherry

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Choke cherry

Choke cherry

Choke cherry leaves

Choke cherry flowers

Choke cherry

Choke cherry

Choke cherry

Choke cherry inflorescence

Choke cherry inflorescences

Choke cherry

Choke cherry habit

Choke cherry flowers and leaf

Choke cherry bark

Choke cherry leaves

Choke cherry

Choke cherry flowers

Morphology

Trunk

Ascending to erect; often forming thickets; bark of young trees reddish-brown, lenticels conspicuous, bark of old trees dark brown, often furrowed, scaly.

Twigs

Twigs reddish-brown or dark brown, without thorns, glabrous; buds brown, scales with gray edge, conical, 1/6 to 1/3 inch long, pointed; leaf scars small, half-round.

Leaves

Alternate, simple, deciduous; stipule narrowly lanceolate, 1/12 to 1/6 inch; petiole 2/5 to 1 inch, often with 2 red glands near the blade base; blade ovate to obovate, 1.6 to 4.8 inches long, 1.2 to 2.4 inches wide, wider toward outer end, base cuneate to rounded, margins finely toothed, tip acute to acuminate, surfaces glabrous or pubescent along abaxial veins, glabrous adaxially, dark green above, paler below.

Flowers

Raceme, dense, 15-80-flowered, 2 to 3 inches long, borne at end of new stems, usually occurring with the leaves; pedicels 1/8 to 1/4 inch, pubescent. Flowers ca. .28 inch across, hypanthium campanulate, 1/20 to 1/15 inch, glabrous; sepals 5, triangular to orbiculate, 1/25 to 1/20 inch, margins glandular-serrate; petals 5, white, orbiculate, 1/8 to 1/6 inch; stamens 20-30; pistil 1.

Fruit

July; drupes, dark reddish purple, globose, .28 to .45 inch wide, in drooping clusters 4 to 5 inches long; stone oval, .26 to .29 inch.

Ecology

Habitat

Oak-hickory woodlands, roadsides, fencerows, thickets, prairie slopes and ravines

Distribution

Statewide, but more common in central and western Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans took an infusion of bark for coughs, colds, and fevers and used juice from the fruits to treat diarrhea and sore throats.

Additional Notes