AMYGDALACEAE 143 



and trees. Where the habitat is favorable, it may be found from 

 New Brunswick west to Manitoba and south to Pennsylvania, 

 Indiana and Illinois. In Illinois, it has been widely collected 

 from the sandy regions in Cook and Lake counties, occasionally 

 in Kankakee County, and near Oregon, where dry sand from 

 sandstone rocks favors its growth. Forms with broad leaves 

 are segregated as var. susquehanae (Willdenow) Jaeger. 



PRUNUS VIRGINIANA Linnaeus 

 Chokecherry Common Chokecherry 



The Chokecherry, fig. 33, is a small or large, erect shrub up 

 to 18 feet high, with stems as much as 3 inches in diam.eter and 

 smooth, reddish-brown branches and greenish branchlets which 

 turn reddish brown. Its oval to obovate leaves with blades up 

 to 3 inches long and 1^ inches wide are narrowly acute and 

 short pointed at the apex, and narrowed, rounded, or subcor- 

 date at the base. The margins are sharply serrate or often 

 doubly serrate, and the surface is smooth above, and smooth 

 but definitely paler beneath or with pubescence along the mid- 

 rib or in the axils of the principal veins. The petioles, which 

 are ]/^ to nearly I/2 inch long, generally bear 2 glands near the 

 base of the blade. 



The flowers, which appear from early May to early June, 

 occur in terminal racemes arising from short, lateral branch- 

 lets of the season. These racemes, which have glabrous stalks, 

 are from 1^ to 3 inches long and each has about 25 white 

 flowers, which are less than 14 i^^ch wide. The calyx lobes are 

 deciduous, cut along the edges, and mostly tipped with glands. 

 The fruit, which begins to ripen during the last of August, is 

 at maturity nearly black, globose, and V^ to 14 i^ich in diameter. 

 The stone within is smooth and varies from oblong-ovoid to 

 nearly orbicular. It is slightly compressed laterally and the 

 dorsal suture is broad, while the ventral one is acute. 



Distribution. — The Chokecherry is a northern shrub which 

 is distributed from Labrador to Hudson Bay and south to 

 North Carolina, Kentucky and Kansas. It prefers moist, al- 

 luvial soil along lakes and streams but may occasionally occur 

 along roadsides and fences. In Illinois, though by no means a 

 common shrub, it is widely distributed over the northern half 

 of the state and is especially abundant in the northeastern 



