Chokeberry

The glossy black berries here are the fruit of Chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa. Chokeberry is a medium sized shrub found in mixed woodlands.  The Wetlands Trail at CNC has a nice stand near the bog boardwalk.  In the spring the plant is covered in lovely white flowers reminiscent of a plum or cherry.  The flowers really stand out against the very dark green foliage.  The stamens are dark and stand out against the white petals like a sprinkling of pepper - very attractive.  The glossy black berries that follow take most of the summer to ripen.  They are edible and tasty, as long as you add some sugar.  In Europe Aronia juice is very popular, and slowly catching on here.  It is similar in taste to cranberry and is reported to have even more health benefits.  They berries have a high pectin content and can be used to thicken jams and jellies.  This is one of the few edible natives in my garden (along with wild strawberry and nannyberry) but I leave the small berry crop for the birds.  When I added my Aronia I planted it next to a silky dogwood, not realizing how much faster the dogwood would grow.  The Aronia is dwarfed by its robust neighbor.  I plan to prune the dogwood hard nest spring to bring it into bounds.  Aronia's tolerance of many habitats make it an ideal landscape plant.  Unfortunately it is not widely available outside of specialty nurseries.