﻿Trees of New York State ^47 



ROSAGEAE 



Primus virginiana L. 



Choke Cherry 



Habit — A shrub or small tree 20-25 feet in height Avith a trunk diameter of 

 4-8 inches, occasionally 35 feet tall TN-ith a bole 12 inches through. Trunk 

 usually inclined. Cro^vn narrow, irregular. 



Leaves — Alternate, ovate, elliptical or obovate, 2-4 inches long, 1-2 inches 

 ■R-ide, abruptly acute at the apex, cuneate or rounded at the base, sharply 

 serrate vrith. slender, sharp teeth, at maturity thin, bright green and 

 glabrous above, paler and quite glabrous beneath, borne on slender, 

 biglandular petioles %-% of an inch long. 



Flowers — Appearing in May or June when the leaves are nearly grown, per- 

 fect, %-V^ of an inch broad, borne on short pedicels in many-flowered 

 erect or nodding racemes which are 3-6 inches long and terminate short 

 leafy branches. Calyx-tube cup-shaped, glabrous, 5-lobed, the lobes short, 

 broad, obtuse, reflexed, early deciduous. Petals 5, white, orbicular, short- 

 clawed at the base and inserted AA-ith the stamens on the calyx-tube. 

 Stamens with filiform filaments and oval anthers. Pistil consisting of 

 a green, glabrous, 1-celled ovary, short thick style and broad, simple 

 stigma. 



Fruit — A globose, short-stalked, bright red, lustrous drupe, V^-Vs of an 

 inch in diameter, borne in drooping racemose clusters, ripening in July 

 and August and turning dark crimson or nearly black. Skin thick. Flesh 

 thin, juicy, dark colored, very puckery until dead ripe. Stone globose, 

 apiculate, ridged on one side. 



Winter characters — Twigs slender to medium stout, glabrous, light brown 

 to reddish brown, with small, punctate, pale yellowish lenticels. Bruised 

 tAvigs with rank odor. Buds conical to ovate, acute, glabrous, pale chest- 

 nut-brown, %-% of an inch long. Mature bark thin, grayish brown, 

 smooth aside from the rounded lenticels, in age somewhat roughened by 

 shallow ridges. 



Habitat — On a variety of soils along fences, highroads, stream courses, in 

 open woods, and waste land, often forming extensive thickets. Spreads 

 by means of root-suckers or by seeds disseminated by the birds. 



Eange — A transcontinental species extending from Xewfoimdland westward 

 through the Hudson Bay region to British Columbia and the coast, south- 

 ward to Georgia and along the eastern slopes of the Rockies to Texas and 

 New Mexico. Zones B, 0, and D. 



Uses — An obnoxious ' ' weed ' ' shrub and tree. The seeds are sown by the 

 birds along fences and hedge rows and soon produce extensive thickets 

 which are difficult to eliminate owing to the formation of numerous root- 

 suckers. Of no commercial value. The appellation of " Choke Cherry " 

 is apropos because of the puckery nature of the fruit before it becomes 

 dead ripe. 



