Return to Native Trees of the Southern Rocky Mountains

We found in the mountain passes today a considerable quantity of a small fruit called the choke-cherry, a species of prunus, growing on low bushes. When ripe, they are tolerable eating, somewhat astringent, ... ordinarily so abundant that it constitutes a large portion of the vegetable food of both Indians and white trappers who visit these regions. - John Kirk Townsend, 1834.

A common hardy small sapling-sized tree that reproduces actively from seeds dropped by birds. It is interesting to see this tree, typical of the eastern woodlands, thriving in the rigors of the Colorado mountains, from 4500 to 9000 feet. The Chokecherry of Colorado rarely exceeds 20 feet in height and 4 inches in trunk diameter, though it can achieve twice those dimensions. It grows along or near streams of the lower valleys, as single saplings, sometimes forming dense thickets of short finger-sized stems, in mountain parks, and in protected gullies in the prairies.

Chokecherry is one of the first trees to leaf out in the spring, its leaves appearing in early April in the lower foothills, with green flower structures standing upright at first. White flowers appear in three to six-inch long clusters in late spring. The fruit is dark purple or black when ripe from July through September; it is eaten by grouse, turkeys, raccoons, bear, fox, deer, coyotes, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, rabbits, and squirrels. The fruit is edible by humans too, and can be used to make jelly and wine, but the leaves and stems are said to be poisonous. The Lewis and Clark expedition flavored a keg of whiskey with chokecherries. Indians used the entire Chokecherry fruit -- seed and pulp all ground up together -- as one of the main ingredients in pemmican, which also included fat and jerked meat, a kind of early trail mix or hard rations.They used the bark for green dye and the berries for red dye. Chokecherry is used for ornamental plantings today.

The scientific name is Padus (formerly Prunus) virginiana var. melanocarpa .

Leaves: 2 to 4 inches long; pointed with a U-shaped base; edges finely toothed, singly toothed, leafstalks 1/2 to 1 inch long. The teeth may be so small as to be almost invisible.

Stems: The latest year's new growth twigs are shiny and reddish brown with rounded white bumps (lenticels; breathing pores). Twigs and bark emit an odor of bitter almonds when crushed and tasted; they are poisonous if eaten in quantity.

Fruit: first green, then red, and dark purple or black when ripe, in a long raceme, a linear strand, rather than in a spray of individual fruits attached to a common point as in Pin cherry. 1/4 to 1/2 inch diameter, appears from July to September depending on location. Flowers between April and June depending on elevation.

Bark: thin, gray with slight red-brown tint, with shallow fissures. White spots are distinctive.