126 



American Midland Naturalist Monograph No. 4 



Field Guide to the Varieties 



Ftuits red to purple; leaf-blades with tufts of hairs in axils of the veins below, the 

 stalks with 1 or 2 glands below the blades. 



Occurs in eastern United States 1. P. vtrginiana. 



Occurs on Pacific slope la. Var. demissa. 



Fruits black; leaf-blades smooth below, the stalks glandlcss; occurs in Rocky Moun- 

 tains and Southwest ....— lb. Var. melanocarpa. 



Occurrence. — 1. Common chokecherry (P. virginiana L.). iSLE ROYALE, com- 

 mon: Mount Franklin trail; Mount Ojibway trail; Lake Richie trail; Washington 

 Harbor. 



la. Western Chokecherry (Var. demissa (Nutt.) Torr.). lassen. yosemite, 

 rare, about 4.000 feet: near foot of Yosemite Falls; Wawona. SEQUOIA, about 3,500 

 feet: west of Panoroma Peak; east of Hospital Rock. 



lb. Black Chokecherry (Var. melanocarpa (Nels.) Sarg.), fig. 62. glacier, 

 common, 3,800 to 6,000 feet: Belton; Avalanche campgrounds; Logging Mountain; 

 trail to Sperry chalet; Swiftcurrent Lake; trail to Iceberg Lake; trail to Triple Divide. 

 YELLOWSTONE, abundant: lower Yellowstone River; Lost Creek; Melvin Gulch; Mam- 

 moth Hot Springs. GRAND TETON, occasional, 6,600 feet: along road near park head- 

 quarters; moraine east of Phelps Lake. ROCKY MOUNTAIN, common. MESA VERDE: 

 head of Navajo Canyon. BRYCE CANYON: rim road between Bryce Point and Farview. 

 ZION, on the plateaus: West Rim trail near ranger cabin, about 6,000 feet. GRAND 

 CANYON, North Rim, rare: vicinity of Neal Spring, 8,300 feet. 



2. Bitter Cherry (Prunus 

 emarginata (Dougl.) Walp.), 

 fig. 63. — Shrub 3 to 8 feet 

 high, or slender tree up to 20 

 or 30 feet high; bark smooth, 

 thin, gray to dull red-brown; 

 leaf-blades smooth, % to 2i/2 

 inches long, oblong with a 

 blunt-pointed or rounded tip, 

 or more or less tapering to the 

 base, the margins finely 

 toothed, borne on short stalks; 

 flowers white, 1/3 to ^ inch 

 across, 3 to 10 in spreading, 

 more or less flat-topped clus- 

 ters borne in the leaf-axils; 

 fruits cherry-like, bright red, 

 1/3 to nearly 1/2 irich long, 

 very sour and bitter. 



Bitter cherry is very vari- 

 able in form, depending upon the conditions in which it grows. In high, 

 rocky or exposed locations it is a much-branched shrub 3 to 8 feet high with 

 smooth, gray bark, while in the lower, moist situations it becomes a slender 

 tree as high as 20 to 30 feet. The shrub is characteristic of open brush types 

 where it sometimes forms dense thickets. A form with finely hairy leaves 

 found in Olympic and Mount Rainier National Park has been designated as 



Fig. 62. Black chokeberry (^Prunus virginiana 

 var. melanocarpa). 



