Chokecherry

About Chokecherry in Alberta

Chokecherry is a widespread native Alberta tall shrub to small tree, common in coulees, creek banks, ravines, bluffs, fencelines, shelterbelts, farmyards, and woodland edges. It is important for flowers, fruit, wildlife value, and native landscape continuity, but it is often clonal and shrub-like rather than a single large tree. For ARA, notable chokecherries may be old native patches, remnant urban valley-edge colonies, shelterbelt or farmstead plantings, or mature food-bearing thickets with strong ecological and cultural landscape value.

Identification: Leaves are alternate, simple, oval to elliptic, sharply pointed, and finely toothed. They are green in the wild form, while Schubert chokecherry plantings develop purple foliage and should not be confused with the default native green-leaf expression.

Alberta range and habitat: Chokecherry is native in Alberta and widely distributed. It is common in wild, semi-wild, and human-modified landscapes.