Chokecherry is widely distributed throughout southern Canada and much of
the United States. It occurs from Newfoundland to British Columbia and
south to North Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas,
New Mexico, California, and northern Mexico. Plants showing a gradation from black chokecherry to common chokecherry occur in Kansas and Nebraska. The three varieties are distributed as follows [59,72,73]:
common chokecherry - eastern variety; occurs
from Saskatchewan to Newfoundland southward to Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee
and North Carolina
black chokecherry - restricted to the western
portion of North America; occurs in southern Canada from eastern British
Columbia to Alberta and the Dakotas; southward throughout the Rocky
Mountains to New Mexico; and along the east slope of the Cascade Range to
northern California
western chokecherry - occurs from British Columbia southward into northern Mexico, Texas, and California (except the coast and Central Valley)
1 Jack pine
5 Balsam fir
14 Northern pin oak
15 Red pine
16 Aspen
17 Pin cherry
18 Paper birch
19 Gray birch-red maple
20 White pine-northern red oak-red maple
21 Eastern white pine
22 White pine-hemlock
23 Eastern hemlock
24 Hemlock-yellow birch
25 Sugar maple-beech-yellow birch
26 Sugar maple-basswood
27 Sugar maple
28 Black cherry-maple
40 Post oak-blackjack oak
42 Bur oak
60 Beech-sugar maple
63 Cottonwood
80 Loblolly pine-shortleaf pine
81 Loblolly pine
82 Loblolly pine-hardwood
93 Sugarberry-American elm-green ash
108 Red maple
206 Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir
210 Interior Douglas-fir
211 White fir
212 Western larch
213 Grand fir
216 Blue spruce
217 Aspen
218 Lodgepole pine
219 Limber pine
220 Rocky Mountain juniper
222 Black cottonwood-willow
229 Pacific Douglas-fir
230 Douglas-fir-western hemlock
231 Port-Orford-cedar
233 Oregon white oak
234 Douglas-fir-tanoak-Pacific madrone
235 Cottonwood-willow
236 Bur oak
237 Interior ponderosa pine
238 Western juniper
239 Pinyon-juniper
243 Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
245 Pacific ponderosa pine
244 Pacific ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir
247 Jeffrey pine
The 3 chokecherry varieties occur in numerous habitat types and plant communities. Chokecherry often forms mixed stands with other tall shrubs. Common plant associates of chokecherry in some areas are listed below by state or province.
Idaho: Associated tall shrubs on logged sites in a northern Idaho western redcedar-western hemlock (Thuja plicata-Tsuga heterophylla) zone include Rocky Mountain maple (Acer glabrum), Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), redstem ceanothus (Ceanothus sanguineus), snowbrush ceanothus (C. velutinus), dogwood (Cornus spp.), oceanspray (Holodiscus discolor), mockorange (Philadelphus lewisii), ninebark (Physocarpus malvaceus), bitter cherry (Prunus emarginata), cascara (Rhamnus purshiana), Scouler willow (Salix scouleriana), and red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) [173]. In southern and central Idaho, chokecherry occurs in a number of Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) habitat types, along with Pacific ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa var. ponderosa), Rocky Mountain maple and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) [143].
Michigan: Chokecherry occurs in northern Lake Michigan coastal sand dune communities that range from 175 to 835 years old, but is most prevalent in communities 225 to 400 years old. Associated overstory dominants in mixed-pine forests in a similar 200-400 year range include balsam fir (Abies balsamifera), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), red pine (Pinus resinosa), white pine (Pinus strobus), white spruce (Picea strobus), and northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis) [99]. In northern white-cedar forests in lower northern Michigan, important plant associates are sugar maple (Acer saccharum), white ash (Fraxinus americana), mountain maple (Acer spicatum), paper birch, basswood (Tilia americana), alternate-leaved dogwood (C. alternifolia), ironwood (Ostrya virginiana) and balsam fir [3].
Minnesota: Northeastern forests: overstory species include quaking aspen, bigtooth aspen (Populus grandidentata), red pine, and jack pine (Pinus banksiana). Common tall shrub species include mountain maple, American green alder (Alnus viridis ssp. crispa), alternate-leaf dogwood, round-leaved dogwood (C. rugosa) and serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.) [13].
In the northwestern forest and transition zones of Minnesota, overstory associates include bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa), American elm (Ulmus americana), basswood, sugar maple, green ash, quaking aspen, paper birch, ironwood, and balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera). Common shrub associates include smooth sumac (Rhus glabra), dogwood (Cornus spp.), black cherry (Prunus serotina), and sugar maple. [31,47].
In Minnesota oak (Quercus spp.) savanna overstory dominants include bur oak and pin oak (Q. ellipsoidalis). Shrubs commonly associated with chokecherry include smooth sumac and American hazel (Corylus americana) [169].
Montana: Plant associates in riparian sites in western and central Montana include Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir, Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum), Pacific ponderosa pine, big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), western snowberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis) and ninebark [46,66,119]. In eastern Montana hardwood forests that extend into the Dakotas, chokecherry occurs commonly with green ash, plains cottonwood (Populus deltoides var. monilifera), American elm, and box elder (Acer negundo) [64,66,98,119].
Nevada and Utah; Dominant associated shrubs in sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) rangelands in northeastern Nevada and mountain brush communities in Utah include Saskatoon serviceberry, shadscale (Atriplex confertifolia), rubber rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus), green rabbitbrush (C. viscidiflorus), antelope bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), mountain snowberry (Symphoricarpos oreophilus), Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii), Wood's rose (Rosa woodsii), ninebark, curlleaf mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius), Rocky Mountain juniper, Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir, and white fir (Abies concolor). [11,33,79,90].
North Carolina: In a red spruce-Fraser fir (Picea rubens-Abies fraseri) forest in the Plott Balsam Mountains, chokecherry occurs with pin cherry, American mountain-ash (Sorbus americana), mountain maple, alternate-leaf dogwood, red maple (Acer rubrum), and willow (Salix spp.) species [128].
North Dakota: Chokecherry occurs in Missouri river slopes, floodplains, and also western woodlands. Tree associates are green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), box elder, American elm, bur oak, basswood, quaking aspen, paper birch, Rocky Mountain juniper, ponderosa pine, and limber pine (Pinus flexilus). Common shrubs and woody vines in the floodplains include peach-leaved willow (S. amygdaloides), dogwood, western snowberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis), eastern poison-ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), Saskatoon serviceberry, woodbine (Parthenocissus inserta), and frost grape (Vitis vulpina) [56,64,82,98,171].
Pennsylvania: In central Pennsylvania mixed-oak valley floor forests, dominant species associated with chokecherry are white oak (Q. alba), red oak (Q. rubra), black oak (Q. velutina) and black cherry [2].
South Dakota and Wyoming: Hoffman and Alexander [77] describe a ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa var. scopulorum/chokecherry community type occurring on the Black Hills National Forest. Important associates in this community are Saskatoon serviceberry, white spirea (Spirea betulifolia), and Oregon-grape (Mahonia repens). The authors list chokecherry as an important component in bur oak, ponderosa pine and quaking aspen series of habitat types. River drainage species in green ash/chokecherry habitats are similar to those listed for North Dakota.
Vermont: In the Green Mountains chokecherry occurs where common overstory trees are sugar maple, American beech (Fagus grandifolia), yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), red spruce, and balsam fir. Abundant understory shrub associates include striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum), mountain maple, pin cherry (P. pensylvanica), and American mountain-ash [136].
Wisconsin: In southwestern oak-hickory (Quercus-Carya spp.) forests (where replacement of oaks by others species is a recognized problem), chokecherry occurs where dominant overstory species include sugar maple, green ash, and slippery elm (Ulmus rubra) [100].
Chokecherry is listed as a dominant or indicator species in the following published classifications:
A preliminary classification of the natural vegetation of Colorado [12]
Vegetation and soils of the Rock Springs Watershed [21]
Native woodland ecology and habitat classification of southwestern North
Dakota [57]
The vegetation of the Grand River/Cedar River, Sioux, and Ashland Districts of the Custer National Forest: a habitat type classification [64]
The vegetation of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota: a habitat type classification [65]
Classification and Management of Montana's riparian and wetland sites [66]
Grassland, shrubland, and forestland habitat types of the White
River-Arapaho National Forest [71]
Habitat types on selected parts of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre National
Forests [85]
Aspen community types on the Caribou and Targhee National Forests in
southeastern Idaho [115]
Forest habitat types of Montana [119]
Rangeland cover types of the United States [135]
Plant associations (habitat types) of Region 2., 3rd ed. [157]
Aspen community types on the Bridger-Teton National Forest in western
Wyoming [178]
Related categories for
SPECIES: Prunus virginana
| Chokecherry
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Courtesy: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research
Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Fire Effects Information System
