Red Chokeberry

Red Chokeberry

Aronia arbutifolia

Rosaceae (Rose Family)

▲ flowering shrub in spring

▲ flowers

▲ ▼ fruit

Location on campus: along the drive to the south of Lot 24, south of Grand Avenue, on MSU campus

Location near campus: toward southeast corner of Xeriscape Garden; Xeriscape Garden is at northwest corner of National and Linwood, about 3/4 mile south of campus on National Avenue.

Aronia arbutifolia: Red Chokeberry

• leaves deciduous, alternate, simple, oblong or obovate with pointed tip; leaves 1.5-3.5" long and 1/4 to 1/2 as wide; margins serrate with black-tipped teeth; leaf upper side is glabrous and dark green, leaf underside is pubescent with dark glands along midrib
• stem is slender brown and tomentose
• flowers are white in axillary clusters in mid spring on previous season's growth
• fruit is a bright red 1/4" pome-- very showy, but has astringent taste---not liked much by birds (hence the name)
• grows 6-10' tall and 3-5' wide; sends up suckers from base to form a colony; foliage is often on upper third of plant, so it looks “leggy"
• prefers full sun to half-shade and very soil adapted
• slow to medium growth rate--faster on new suckers than existing stems