Editing Prunus virginiana

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; width: 320px; margin-left: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 1em;"
! colspan="2" style="background: #e8e8e8;" | Chokecherry (''Prunus virginiana'')
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | [[File:Chokecherry_(Prunus_virginiana_L)_(4525ecfd-3e81-4b25-b926-cb1df62864fe).JPG|300px|Chokecherry bearing clustered crimson to deep-red fruit]]
|-
! Scientific name
| ''[[Prunus virginiana]]''
|-
! Common names
| chokecherry; bitter-berry; wild cherry; wild blackcherry; rum chokecherry; whiskey chokecherry
|-
! Genus
| [[Prunus]]
|-
! Family
| [[Rosaceae]]
|-
! Order
| [[Rosales]]
|-
! Native range
| North America to Mexico
|-
! Habit
| Shrub or small tree
|-
! Pollination
| Self-fruitful; insect pollinated
|-
! Fruit
| Clustered red to dark fruit; often astringent when fresh
|-
! Ripening
| About 10 weeks after flowering; July–September in Utah guidance
|-
! Years to fruit
| Before the fourth year; heavy bearing often in the third or fourth year
|-
! Safety
| Keep pits, leaves, and stems out of food preparations
|}

''Prunus virginiana'', commonly called chokecherry, is an accepted species native across North America to Mexico.<sup id="cite_ref-1">[[#cite_note-1|[1]]]</sup> It is a shrub or small tree grown for its clustered fruit, but fresh fruit can be strongly astringent; processing is the usual practical use.<sup id="cite_ref-2">[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

== Description ==

Chokecherry forms a shrub or small tree with fruit borne in racemes. Regional forms vary in fruit color and character, and the ripe fruit may range from crimson to deep red or darker tones. Its deep rhizomatous roots can produce suckers, particularly when roots are damaged, so a planting needs room for spread and a site where suckering is manageable.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-3">[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-4">[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup>

A tetraploid breeding study used 101 progeny from a cross between an X-disease-resistant line and a susceptible line and associated one resistance-related QTL with linkage group 15. That result describes a breeding population, not a universal field-resistance guarantee for named trees.<sup id="cite_ref-7">[[#cite_note-7|[7]]]</sup>

== Cultivation ==

=== Soil and water ===

A soil pH of 5–8 is given for garden production. Prepare the planting site before setting out trees, and keep the root zone supplied with water during establishment; regional guidance also uses spacing and renewal pruning to manage the shrub's spread and structure.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> Because the roots are rhizomatous and sucker readily when disturbed, avoid placing the plant where routine digging or root injury would send shoots into paths or adjoining beds.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup>

=== Sun and humidity ===

As a member of ''Prunus'', it is reasonable to begin with a bright, open planting position and good air movement for fruit production; treat that as a genus-level starting point rather than a fixed species limit. Give the plant enough spacing for its shrub form and monitor local moisture rather than trying to maintain a constant humidity level.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup>

=== Seasonal changes ===

Flowering-to-fruit development is about ten weeks in the regional garden guidance, while another regional account places ripening roughly three months after flowering. July–September ripening is a useful Utah reference window rather than a universal calendar for every range or ecotype.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup> In nursery production, fall sowing is used to expose seed to seasonal dormancy conditions; spring and summer growth is followed by hardening before stock is moved out of protected production.<sup>[[#cite_note-6|[6]]]</sup>

== Propagation ==

Seed has physiological dormancy. A University of Washington propagation protocol cleans seed from ripe fruit and uses a moist warm treatment followed by 60–90 days of cold stratification; the same protocol records seed, hardwood, softwood, semi-hardwood, and root cuttings, and recommends separating suckers in spring. Its greenhouse schedule reaches plantable stock in about seven months under the stated production conditions.<sup id="cite_ref-5">[[#cite_note-5|[5]]]</sup>

A South Central Missouri nursery protocol instead uses late-October fall sowing for a named ecotype in silty clay loam beds, with root pruning at about 10 inches and a production cycle of active growth followed by hardening. It records cool-dry seed storage viability of at least four to six years as a cited nursery-seed-manual value; that storage figure and the bed schedule should be treated as protocol context, not a universal requirement.<sup id="cite_ref-6">[[#cite_note-6|[6]]]</sup> Seedlings can vary from the parent, so a selected fruiting plant is better maintained by a documented vegetative method when preserving its traits matters.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

== Flowering, fruiting, and harvest ==

Chokecherry is described as self-fruitful and insect pollinated. Regional extension guidance places bearing before the fourth year, with heavy bearing commonly in the third or fourth year; climate, plant origin, and establishment affect the timing.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> Harvest when the clusters are fully colored and ripe, using the local flowering date to estimate the roughly ten-week to three-month development period rather than relying on a fixed month.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup>

Renewal pruning is used to manage older wood and the suckering habit. Leave enough productive framework for the next crop, and remove unwanted shoots at the root source where possible rather than repeatedly cutting only the visible top growth.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup>

== Fruit and uses ==

Fresh chokecherries can be astringent. Ripe fruit is used for jelly and other cooked preparations, and sorted fruit can be frozen for later processing.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup> Preparation must keep pits out of the food stream and must exclude leaves and stems. Extension handling guidance makes that separation a condition of preparation, not an optional refinement.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-4|[4]]]</sup>

Seasonal plant-tissue assays found substantially higher cyanide potential in chokecherry foliage than in serviceberry foliage, with woody tissue exceeding the acute cattle-poisoning threshold in the study and buds and flowers containing more prunasin than fruit. Those results reinforce strict separation of non-fruit tissues; they do not define a human-safe preparation method.<sup id="cite_ref-8">[[#cite_note-8|[8]]]</sup>

== Cultivars and selections ==

Regional extension guides list Canada Red and Schubert, as well as Boughen's Sweet or Chokeless and Maskinonge, as named chokecherry selections or forms.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> Their practical value is as locally described choices to compare for plant habit or fruit character; the tradeoff is that the descriptions are regional, so a name should not be treated as a guarantee of fruit quality, disease response, or performance at another site. Preserve the selection name and its source region when buying or propagating it.

== Photos ==

[[File:File-Prunus_virginiana_-_native;-Alternate_names-_Bitter-berry,_Virginia_bird_cherry,_western_chokecherry;-Blooms_April_-_July_(5a22848b-7093-4c42-b5fd-92f8aa345707).JPG|300px|Ripe chokecherries in a fruiting cluster]]

== References ==

* <span id="cite_note-1"></span>[[#cite_ref-1|↑]] '''[1]''' [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30003056-2 ''Prunus virginiana'' L. | Plants of the World Online].

* <span id="cite_note-2"></span>[[#cite_ref-2|↑]] '''[2]''' [https://apps.msuextension.org/montguide/guide.html?sku=MT200208AG Growing Minor Stone Fruit in Montana].

* <span id="cite_note-3"></span>[[#cite_ref-3|↑]] '''[3]''' [https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/research/chokecherry-in-the-garden How to Grow Chokecherry in Your Garden].

* <span id="cite_note-4"></span>[[#cite_ref-4|↑]] '''[4]''' [https://pubs.nmsu.edu/_h/H339/ Chokecherry (aka Capulin): Identifying Plants, Harvesting Fruit, and Making Jelly].

* <span id="cite_note-5"></span>[[#cite_ref-5|↑]] '''[5]''' [http://courses.washington.edu/esrm412/protocols/2012/PRVI.pdf Plant Propagation Protocol for ''Prunus virginiana''].

* <span id="cite_note-6"></span>[[#cite_ref-6|↑]] '''[6]''' [https://npn.rngr.net/npn/npn/renderNPNProtocolDetails?selectedProtocolIds=rosaceae-prunus-3029 ''Prunus virginiana'' propagation protocol, South Central Missouri].

* <span id="cite_note-7"></span>[[#cite_ref-7|↑]] '''[7]''' [https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11032-014-0025-3 Construction of genetic linkage maps and QTL mapping for X-disease resistance in tetraploid chokecherry].

* <span id="cite_note-8"></span>[[#cite_ref-8|↑]] '''[8]''' [https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.4141/cjas81-082 The cyanide potential of Saskatoon serviceberry and chokecherry].

== Image credits ==

* Chokecherry_(Prunus_virginiana_L)_(4525ecfd-3e81-4b25-b926-cb1df62864fe).JPG — National Park Service employee (NPS Photo); public domain in the United States as a U.S. federal government work. [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chokecherry_(Prunus_virginiana_L)_(4525ecfd-3e81-4b25-b926-cb1df62864fe).JPG Individual file page].

* File-Prunus_virginiana_-_native;-Alternate_names-_Bitter-berry,_Virginia_bird_cherry,_western_chokecherry;-Blooms_April_-_July_(5a22848b-7093-4c42-b5fd-92f8aa345707).JPG — National Park Service (NPS Photo); public domain in the United States as a U.S. federal government work. [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:File-Prunus_virginiana_-_native;-Alternate_names-_Bitter-berry,_Virginia_bird_cherry,_western_chokecherry;-Blooms_April_-_July_(5a22848b-7093-4c42-b5fd-92f8aa345707).JPG Individual file page].