College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources

Plant Database

Aronia melanocarpa

Black Chokeberry

Rosaceae

Black ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack ChokeberryBlack Chokeberry
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Habitat

  • throughout the eastern United States and adjacent southern Canada
  • zone 3
  • found on a range of sites from dry to swampy

Habit and Form

  • generally 3' to 5' tall, but can get larger
  • a multistemmed, suckering, deciduous shrub
  • forms large colonies and spreads
  • texture is medium

Summer Foliage

  • good quality, shiny, leathery
  • dark green upper surface, light green lower surface
  • elliptical with fine, even serrations along the margin
  • 1" to 3" long and 0.75" to 2" wide

Autumn Foliage

  • orange, burgundy and purple
  • dependable and showy, especially in exposed locations

Flowers

  • clusters of small, white flowers
  • in May, lasting only a week or so
  • not overwhelming in bloom, but adds seasonal interest

Fruit

  • clusters of purplish-black pome fruit
  • 0.3" to 0.5" diameter
  • persistent, from September through December
  • eaten by birds, but left until after more desirable species have been consumed

Bark

  • brown, but stem diameter is small, so unimportant

Culture

  • adaptable to many conditions
  • tolerant of both dry and wet soils
  • easily transplanted and established
  • full sun or partial shade, but best flowering, fruiting and fall color in full exposure

Landscape Use

  • excellent for fall foliage effect
  • multiseasonal due to flowers, high-quality summer foliage, flowers, fruit and fall foliage
  • best used in mass plantings or borders
  • for naturalistic plantings
  • useful for bank stabilization and erosion control
  • could be used more

Liabilities

  • can get all the problems common to the rose family but I have observed it to be relatively pest and disease free
  • tends to spread by suckers
  • fruit not as showy as A. arbutifolia, but foliage may be more shiny

ID Features

  • suckering habit
  • black pome fruit
  • twigs glabrous, often with loose waxy, whitish material (compare to pubescent A. arbutifolia twigs)
  • undersides of leaves glabrous (compare to fuzzy undersides of A. arbutifolia)
  • buds reddish

Propagation

  • easy by seed, softwood cuttings, or division of colonies

Cultivars/Varieties

var. elata - A form with larger leaves, flowers and fruits that has a larger mature size (10'-12' tall). Many nurseries claim to grow this form.

'Autumn Magic' - A compact form (3'-5' tall) with good fruit set and bright red-purple fall color.

'Morton' (Iroquois Beauty™) - A dwarf form (only 2' to 3' tall) with ornamental traits similar to the species. Even smaller than 'Autumn Magic', thus useful for bringing multi-season interest to limited spaces.

'Viking' - A mid-sized cultivar averaging between 3' and 6' tall. Observers have noted good foliage quality -- both in summer and fall -- and large black fruit.

© Copyright Mark H. Brand, 1997-2015.

The digital materials (images and text) available from the UConn Plant Database are protected by copyright. Public use via the Internet for non-profit and educational purposes is permitted. Use of the materials for profit is prohibited.

Citation and Acknowledgements: University of Connecticut Plant Database, https://plantdatabase.uconn.edu/, Mark H. Brand, Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, Storrs, CT 06269-4067 USA.