Prunus virginiana subsp. demissa

Prunus virginiana, commonly called bitter-berry, chokecherry, Virginia bird cherry, and western chokecherry (also black chokecherry for P. virginiana var. demissa), is a species of bird cherry (Prunus subgenus Padus) native to North America.

Description

A medium sized shrub or small tree. It grows 3-6 m high. A clump of bushes often grow together forming a thicket. The leaves are rounded at the base. They are widest above the middle. They are dark green. The flowers are white and in cylinder shaped clusters. They are near the ends of branches. The fruit are almost black. They are 0.8-1.2 cm across.

Edible Uses

The fruit are eaten raw, fresh, or dried, and are used to make syrups, jams, jellies, soups, and wine. The fruit with seeds can be dried, crushed, and soaked in water with flour and sugar to make a sauce.

Traditional Uses

The fruit are eaten raw. They are used fresh or dried. They are also used for syrups, jams, jellies, soups and wine. The fruit with seeds were dried, crushed and soaked in water with flour and sugar to make a sauce.

Medicinal Uses

For many Indigenous tribes of the Northern Rockies, Northern Plains, and boreal forest region of Canada and the United States, chokecherries are the most important fruit in their traditional diets and are part of pemmican, a staple traditional food. The bark of chokecherry root is made into an asperous-textured concoction used to ward off or treat colds, fever and stomach maladies by Indigenous people. The inner bark of the chokecherry, as well as red osier dogwood, or alder, is also used by some tribes in ceremonial smoking mixtures, known as kinnikinnick. The chokecherry fruit can be eaten when fully ripe, but otherwise contains a toxin. The fruit can be used to make jam or syrup, but the bitter nature of the fruit requires sugar to sweeten the preserves. The Plains Indians pound up the whole fruits—including the pits—in a mortar, from which they made sun-baked cakes. Chokecherry is also used to make wine in the Western United States, mainly in the Dakotas and Utah, as well as in Manitoba, Canada.

Known Hazards

The stone of the fruit is poisonous. Chokecherry, including the foliage, is toxic to moose, cattle, goats, deer, and other animals with segmented stomachs (rumens), especially after the leaves have wilted (such as after a frost or after branches have been broken); wilting releases cyanide and makes the plant sweet. About 4.5–9 kilograms (10–20 pounds) of foliage can be fatal. In horses, symptoms include heavy breathing, agitation, and weakness.

Distribution

Temperate. It grows in moist sites.

Where It Grows

Canada, North America, USA,

Cultivation

Plants can be grown by seeds or cuttings.

Notes

There are about 200 Prunus species.

Synonyms

References (11)

• Beckstrom-Sternberg, Stephen M., and James A. Duke. "The Foodplant Database." http://probe.nalusda.gov:8300/cgi-bin/browse/foodplantdb.(ACEDB version 4.0 - data version July 1994) (As Prunus demissa)
• Bocek, B. R., 1984, Ethnobotany of Costanoan Indians, California, Based on Collections by John P. Harrington. Economic Botany 38(2): 240-255
• Esperanca, M. J., 1988. Surviving in the wild. A glance at the wild plants and their uses. Vol. 2. p 309
• Facciola, S., 1998, Cornucopia 2: a Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, p 205
• Farrar, J.L., 1995, Trees of the Northern United States and Canada. Iowa State University press/Ames p 383

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