Choke Cherry Tree? Updated Photos.

[ShellieESterling]

I originally thought this tree might possibly be an Elder (berries are tiny like a pinky nail), but I've never seen those grow berries like this (clump wise)... Perhaps it's 'Cascara Sagrada'? It appears to be similar from the pictures in my medicinal plants book. Someone help me out please.

Bark --

Berries --

 

[patandchickens]

It is not elderberry, which does not (afaik) make a big tree like that and the leaves are quite different.

It looks to me like chokecherry (Prunus virginiana I think), although I don't guarantee it isn't some other small wild cherry e.g. pin cherry. I would go grab some green fruit off one of our chokecherries to compare but am presently afflicted with screaming children so it will have to wait

Pat

 

[robbobbin]

What about a 'Serviceberry' I'm going to look now...

it's definitely not an elderberry IMHO

 

[patandchickens]

It's definitely not serviceberry (Amelanchier) because the bark is too rough and irregular, and the flower end of the berries does not have the big star-shaped 'split' that serviceberries do-- looks the same as blueberries, you know?

(I know this because I popped out to check on ours, with the bonus of finding two ripe berries that the birds had not yet found -- the birds unfortunately are much more reliable pickers than I am )

(edited to add: I did compare to our chokecherries, btw, and it looks basically similar, but I still am not going to swear it's chokecherry).

Pat

 

[karanleaf]

My first thouht when seeing the fruit was a wild cherry of some type. I would like to see the bark up a bit closer though I will compare it with a wild cherry I noticed growning in our fence line (That has got to go) Nasty for horses...

 

[ShellieESterling]

Are choke cherries edible? I hope they aren't completely useless. I can go take a closer picture of the bark, if you'd like.

 

[ShellieESterling]

Okay, I ran out to snap some new photos. I've got about a DOZEN of these trees, if not more. They have bark ranging from smooth with some roughness to REALLY rough. Here's 4 pix of the most common looking ones and a picture of the bottoms of the leaves.

I think they might be SOME type of cherry, but maybe not a choke cherry. The bark from this picture doesn't look similar at all to me.

 

[patandchickens]

You can make jelly out of them if you can pick enough of the lil' buggers before the birds get to them I have never done it but my m-i-l has, and she (and her offspring including my husband) assure me that although it takes a lot of sugar the result is quite good.

We have lotsa chokecherries around here - I am always having to cut them out from along the horses' fencelines - but I do not feature me ever having the time or energy to pick that many of such tiny things to make jelly out of. Realistically

(Edited to add: -- ok, seeing the bark I will SWEAR to you that it is some sort of Prunus (cherry) and I am still not convinced it isn't chokecherry although I will say those'd be the largest chokecherry trunks I've seen. That photo you linked to does not look at all typical of the bark of chokecherries we get around here, so I would not take it *too* awful seriously Other leading possibility to me would be bird cherry (pincherry) although the leaves don't look quite right to me; or black cherry although I'm used to seeing the bark darker.)

Pat

 

[ShellieESterling]

Maybe a Black or Fire Cherry? I wonder if they'll get much bigger before ripening?
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/commontr/index.aspx

 

[karanleaf]

Yes diffantly (sp?) wild cherry. I had a large tree here on south corner and it was loaded almost every year. yes the cherries do make great jelly as Pat said it takes a lot of them to do it and a bit more sugar...

After I got horses again we cut it down as I did not want to chance one of them munching on the leaves...
But if you don't have horse. I said Make lots & lots of Jelly.. I should have tried making some wine with them before we cut it down....
oh well live and learn..