Chokecherry

Prunus virginiana

KeystoneHosts 15 caterpillarsBird foodPollinator plant

Growing it

When	Flowers May to June; fruits August to September
Type	shrub
Sun	Full sun, partial shade
Water	Low, medium
Soil	pH 5–8
Hardiness	zone 2–7
Mature height	5 m
Mature spread	4.5 m
Spacing	3 m
Years to maturity	6
Bloom	May–Jun
Flower colour	White read from a published flora
In bloom	May June
Fruit	Aug–Sep
Native to	AB, SK

spoon-shaped leaves about 8 cm long; several stems from the base

Where it has been recorded

BothSpecimensObservations

375 squares of about 28 km, each holding at least one record. A square is not a claim that the plant grows throughout it, and an unshaded square is unrecorded rather than empty. Darker squares hold more records, which follows roads and towns as much as it follows the plant. 68 herbarium specimens and 1,526 field observations this project may redraw. A filled dot is a pressed sheet somebody can re-examine; a hollow ring is a photograph identified by community agreement. Where the dots are dense is where people have looked, not where the plant is commonest, and empty ground is unsurveyed rather than unoccupied. How this map is made.

Which ecoregions the records fall in

Aspen Parkland central AB / SK: 1340 records, high confidence
Fescue Grassland south AB: 1294 records, high confidence
Moist Mixed Grassland south AB / SK: 735 records, high confidence
Mixed Grassland south AB / SK: 354 records, high confidence
Northern Continental Divide south AB: 163 records, high confidence
Boreal Transition central AB / SK: 154 records, high confidence
Cypress Upland south AB / SK: 85 records, high confidence
Peace Lowland north AB: 58 records, high confidence
Mid-Boreal Uplands central AB / SK: 51 records, high confidence
Western Alberta Upland central AB: 23 records, high confidence
Wabasca Lowland north AB: 22 records, high confidence
Eastern Continental Ranges central AB: 17 records, medium confidence
Western Boreal central AB: 5 records, low confidence
Slave River Lowland north AB: 4 records, low confidence

These are counts of records collected somewhere in the region, which is the resolution of the evidence: the map above shows where inside it. A region with 3 records is not the same claim as one with three hundred, so the count travels with the region. A region missing from this list means nobody has recorded it there, which is not the same as the plant being absent. Records within 900 m of a border count for neither side, because the border is not drawn finely enough to say which one they are on. Source: GBIF occurrence search + PRESERVED_SPECIMEN pass, retrieved 2026-08-24. Boundaries digitised from the National Ecological Framework for Canada v2.2 (Ecological Stratification Working Group 1995), simplified to about 900 m for display: an outline is accurate to roughly a kilometre, not to the metre. How these counts are made.

See every observation, live and current, on GBIF or iNaturalist.

Documented animals

145 documented relationships.

nectar for

Aerial Yellowjacket Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Andrena angustitarsata Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena carlini Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Andrena crataegi Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Andrena hippotes Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena lawrencei Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena lupinorum Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena microchlora Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena milwaukeensis Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Andrena miserabilis Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena pallidifovea Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena prunorum Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena rufosignata Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Andrena salicifloris Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena sigmundi LaManna et al. 2020
Andrena subtilis Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena transnigra Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Andrena vicina Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Anthophora pacifica Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Bald-faced Hornet Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Black-shouldered Drone Fly Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Black-tailed Bumble Bee Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Blue Orchard Mason Bee Packer
Brown-belted Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Calligrapher Fly Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Callophrys augustinus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Callophrys spinetorum Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Canadian Tiger Swallowtail Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Central Bumble Bee Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Confusing Bumble Bee Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Cyrtophorus verrucosus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Eastern Calligrapher Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Eastern Pine Elfin Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Eight-spotted Forester Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Epalpus signifer Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Eristalis flavipes Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Eristalis stipator Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Euplexia benesimilis Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Evodinus monticola Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Half-black Bumble Bee Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Halictus confusus Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Halictus farinosus Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Halictus tripartitus Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Hammerschmidtia rufa Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Helophilus fasciatus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Hobomok Skipper Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Hunt's Bumble Bee Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Lapposyrphus aberrantis Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Lasioglossum cressonii Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Lasioglossum dashwoodi Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Lasioglossum incompletum Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Lasioglossum inconditum Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Lasioglossum marinense Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Lasioglossum novascotiae Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Lasioglossum ruidosense Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Lasioglossum sisymbrii Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Lomographa semiclarata Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Lomographa vestaliata Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Mallota bautias Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Meadow Fritillary Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Meliscaeva cinctella Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Molorchus bimaculatus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Monarch Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Mourning Cloak Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Myopa clausa Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Nevada Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Northern Azure Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Orange-legged Furrow Bee Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Osmia californica Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Polygonia faunus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Raspberry Fruitworm Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Red Admiral Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Red-belted Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Rhingia nasica Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Silver-spotted Skipper Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Silvery Blue Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Sphecodes pecosensis Specimen records from ecdysis.org
Sphecomyia vittata Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Spring Cellophane Bee Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Summer Azure Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Tapinoma sessile Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Trichodezia albovittata Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Tricoloured Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Two-ranked Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
Vespula maculifrons Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Yellow Cuckoo Bumble Bee Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Yellow-banded Bumble Bee Specimen records from iNaturalist.org

pollen for

Andrena canadensis Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Andrena crataegi Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Andrena prunorum Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Andrena vicina Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Batyle suturalis Robertson 1929
Black-shouldered Drone Fly Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Brachyopa notata Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Calliphora vomitoria Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Cheilosia latrans Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Colletes kincaidii Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Cortodera longicornis Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Cynomya cadaverina Robertson 1929
Dasysyrphus venustus Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Erebia epipsodea Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Eristalis hirta Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Gnathacmaeops pratensis Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Mason Bees Wilson & Carril 2015
Microdon cothurnatus Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Pentaria trifasciata Robertson 1929
Pseudomasaris vespoides Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Sphecomyia vittata Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Stelis foederalis Robertson 1929
Trichopsomyia apisaon Robertson 1929
Western Bumble Bee Clements & F. L. Long 1923
Yellow-fronted Bumble Bee Clements & F. L. Long 1923

caterpillar host for

Acronicta hasta Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Acronicta radcliffei Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Canadian Tiger Swallowtail Acorn & Sheldon 2006
Cecropia Moth Pohl et al. 2018
Contarinia virginianiae Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Fall Webworm Specimen records from mycoportal.org
Forest Tent Caterpillar Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Lasioglossum inconditum Specimen records from mycoportal.org
Paonias myops Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Polyphemus Moth Pohl et al. 2018
Speckled Green Fruitworm Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Spotted Tussock Moth Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Spring Azure Acorn & Sheldon 2006
Uglynest Caterpillar Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Viceroy Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Western Tiger Swallowtail Acorn & Sheldon 2006
White Admiral Specimen records from iNaturalist.org

fruit for

American Robin Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Baltimore Oriole Fricke et al. 2020
Blue Jay Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Bohemian Waxwing Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Brown Thrasher Fricke et al. 2020
Cedar Waxwing Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Common Grackle Fricke et al. 2020
Eastern Kingbird Fricke et al. 2020
Gray Catbird Fricke et al. 2020
Purple Finch Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Red-eyed Vireo Fricke et al. 2020
Warbling Vireo Fricke et al. 2020

cover for

Black-capped Chickadee Cornell Lab of Ornithology

seed for

Downy Woodpecker Poelen et al. 2014

Also worth knowing

Safety

High toxicity to pets; Low toxicity to people

Edible parts

Fruit

Buying it

About $25–$50 per plant (estimate), sometimes in big-box garden sections. Estimate (shrub default); AB retail as of 2026

Where these numbers came from

Flower detail: not verified, a genus-level estimate