How to Identify Chokecherry Trees
The common chokecherry tree is one of the most widely distributed trees in all of North America. It is a useful tree, with farmers planting chokecherries decades ago as windbreakers and animals partaking of the fruit and twigs. The people of the Northern plains in particular will use the fruit to produce jellies and preserves. The chokecherry is recognizable by where it grows, the shape and size of its leaves, its flowers, its size and its fruit. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Check to see if the chokecherry grows where you live. It thrives in the northern third of the United States and throughout most of Canada. Its southern range is Georgia in the east and New Mexico in the West.
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Look for the chokecherry in certain places. This tree has been successful at taking over old fields, fencerows along country roads, railroad right-of-ways and the edges of forested woodlands. The chokecherry also does well along rivers, brooks and streams.
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Search your region for a small tree. The chokecherry can grow to the size of a large shrub or a small tree, and rarely exceeds 25 feet in height. The largest chokecherry trees grow to 40 feet, but these are rare. The trunk of one is about eight inches in diameter.
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Study the leaves closely to determine if a tree is indeed a chokecherry. They grow alternately on the twig, with a single leaf at each node. The leaves are 1.5-2.5 inches long and are a dullish green color on the top and greenish-gray underneath. The leaves are ovate in shape, with the widest point in the middle, and pointed on the end with finely serrated edges.
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Watch for chokecherry flowers in late spring throughout the range of the tree. Make sure the leaves are developed fully, because the flowers do not bloom until they are. Look for a white five-petal flower growing in clusters on a 3 to 6-inch long hanging stalk called a raceme.
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Investigate the fruit of the chokecherry tree. It can be oblong or have a circular shape and is purple or almost black when it ripens. The fruit is only about a third of an inch wide and grows in clusters three to six inches in length, with anywhere between eight and 20 fruits in a single cluster.
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