Let me be plainspoken . When I chose to write about aronia , I fancy it would be a mere subject . It ’s a native shrub with brainy declension color that ’s leisurely to maturate and makes a good substitute for the ubiquitous and invasive fire bush , Euonymus alatus . death of story — or so I mean . But as it turns out , there ’s plenty more to know aboutaronias — from name confusions to reproductive mysteries to commercial Charles Edward Berry output .
Let ’s start with the basics . Aroniais a genus in the Rosaceae family line , consisting of twospecies :
These two coinage are quite similar in most respects ; they are deciduous , multi - caulescent , intermediate - sized bush with showy green leave and white directly - top flowers in leap . Both mintage produce fruits , and if you want to be botanically right , you call thempomes , not berries ( despite the common name ) . If you ’re rum about the berry vs. pome eminence , you ’ll find response atClassifying Fruit . The red chokeberry has bright red fruit that is not a first choice of bird and tends to remain on the branches through much of the wintertime , while the black-market chokeberry has purplish - black fruits that mature earlier and do n’t last as long .
Both are tolerant of a wide variety of grease and are found in both pixilated and dry expanse . though the red chokeberry is more often found in moist areas . Aronia arbutifoliais base in the first place in the southeastern portion of the U.S. , and is common in Virginia , Maryland , New Jersey , and the Carolinas . Aronia melanocarpais find primarily in the northeast part of North America , though both species are establish in the Appalachian Mountains and parts of the Northeast .
Both species are easy to grow and to transplant . While both are shrubs with standardized pinnacle and banquet , the red chokeberry is a bit more vertical and sylphlike in riding habit and lean to be bare of leaves around the base of the plant . Both tend to colonize by suckering , so they are quite useful for erosion control . you may abridge off the suckers to keep them in boundary .
Garden apply
Aronias seem to demand massing , which will aid disguise their bare stain , especially on the leggier red chokeberry . So you ’ll require to group them , preferably in full sun , which will give more flowers , the brightest ruby fall foliage , and the most fruit . You ’ll still get fall colour in fond nicety , but it be given toward orange more than crimson . Because this bush is comfortable to farm and free of major problem ( well , the cervid do like them ) , a number of horticulturist have suggest that the aronias are worthy of more garden use . In addition , both species are recommended for rain gardens by the Piedmont Virginia Native Plant Database , Albemarle.org / NativePlants , and for the margin of streams and ponds . In the wild , these plants are found in place as disparate as bogs and wry slope . Talk about adaptable !
One further growing note : aronia iseasy to propagateby cum , softwood cuttings , and naval division of suckering colony . So if you want to expand a few shrubs into a big mass , you may do so without even buy more plants .
What ’s it called again ? Aronia or Photinia ? Chokeberry or Chokecherry ?
In a major turnabout from the norm , the chokeberries seem to have more scientific names than common name . For example , here ’s the tilt ofscientific synonyms forAronia melanocarpa :
Aronia arbutifolia(L. ) Pers . var.nigra(Willd . ) SeymourAronia nigra(Willd . ) KoehnePhotinia melanocarpa(Michx . ) K.R. Robertson & Phipps . Pyrus arbutifolia(L. ) L. f. var . nigra Willd . Pyrus melanocarpa(Michx . ) Willd . Sorbus melanocarpa(Michx . ) Heynh .
“ The fact that it has been classified in four genus reflects its history of taxonomic difficulty , ” say Lois Berg Stack and Mark H. Brand , extension.umaine.edu / aronia . I do n’t know if it qualify as a taxonomic difficulty , but the fact that the genus is sort asPhotiniaby some scientists certainly leads to confusion with the once - popular red - tip photinia ( Photinia fraseri ) , which , by the way , is NOT related to thearonias . I have the confusion at first hand when I went looking for aronias in the Albemarle County Piedmont Native Plant Database . No aronias in the A - section ? That was a mystifier ; it ’s clearly a local native . But then I went looking in the phosphorus ’s and sure enough , there were the scarlet and black chokeberries listed asPhotinia pyrifoliaandPhotinia melanocarpa . But wait , there ’s more .
In regions where both species ofAroniaare present , they have hybridise to formAronia x prunifolia , treated by some scientists as a new species , Aronia prunifoliaand commonly call purple chokeberry . And how did this raw hybridization occur ? It ’s all due to something calledagamospermy(formation of viable seeds without cross pollenation ) with a potential role forapomixis.www.jstor.org/The Enigmatic Chokeberries . If you require to take more about this mysterious summons , you may learn all about it in “ Aronia : Native Shrub with Untapped Potential , ” Arnold Arboretum , arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu / pdf / article(2010 ) .
There are other confusions , too . The unwashed name chokeberry is easily befuddle with chokecherry , and yes , there is indeed a separate , unrelated plant life bang aschokecherry : Prunus virginiana . For more about this native , which has a number of similarities to the aronias , see the fact sheet atVa . Tech Dendrology . But we ’re not quite done ; there ’s aPrunus virginianavar . melanocarpa — and its common name — I ’m not making this up — is black chokecherry tree . As a couple of aronia experts drily put it , all of this “ leads to disarray in commerce as well as in taxonomy . ” So keep your wits about you when you go stag for aronia .
Are the fruits really eatable ?
There ’s a rise horticultural diligence for the fruits of black chokeberry , so they must be edible , right ? Well , not exactly . The taste is repeatedly depict as acerb and bitter , so bad that those who try it run to conk ; hence , the name chokeberry . Despite the bad taste , the fruits are being grown for human intake — in drinks , jams , jellies , wine-colored , and other concoctions that disguise the mouthful . Why ? Because shameful chokeberries are especially high in antioxidants , reportedly induce more antioxidants than any other yield spring up in moderate regions .
manifestly the aronia Chuck Berry industry arise in Russia and Eastern Europe as an effort to produce a local source of vitamin C.Aronia melanocarpahas been grow as a commercial berry crop in most Eastern European countries since the 1950s , and is “ quickly evolve ” in the United States . Iowa St. Ext / Growing Aronia in Iowa . Aronia berries are one of the specialty crops being “ trialed ” at Maryland ’s Wye Research and Education Center , Extension / Univ.of Maryland / alternative crops .
The blackened chokeberry — called “ aronia Charles Edward Berry ” in this growing food industry — has been and continues to be the focus of a great deal ofresearch into its impact on various diseases , and the results so far are looking good . Va. State & Va. Tech Coop . Ext . ”What ’s the Next Big Berry for Virginia ? Aronia Berries(2013 ) . Aronia berries are presently sold in rooted form by a identification number of online retail merchant . A search of the WWW revealed multiple seed for the plants that are undecomposed for growing your own berries , as well as many recipes for aronia berries , one of which is include in our Recipe of the Month , Aronia Berry Smoothie . So if you desire an ornamental shrub with edible , healthful berry , consider the dark chokeberry ( Aronia melanocarpa ) .
Cultivars :
Before we get to cultivars , I should mention again the so - called “ purple chokeberry , ” which is credibly a “ natural ” hybrid of the two aronia species , though some indicate that it is a separate coinage . Depending on your emplacement on this taxonomy controversy , the empurpled chokeberry is known as eitherAroniaxprunifoliaorAronia x floribundaorAronia prunifolia . This flora is an vertical - rounded shrub with snowy flowers that mature to deep purple fruit . It uprise to 12′ magniloquent and wide and has bright red descent foliage .
Because of the boom in aronia berry growing , cultivars ofAronia melanocarpaare more vulgar . An internet lookup revealed many on-line sources for these plant .
Aronia melanocarpa‘Autumn Magic’is a cultivar develop by the University of British Columbia . ‘ Autumn Magic ’ has bright red and purple leafage in fall , and , in an advance over the species , has a more compact riding habit . Perhaps that is why it has been named a industrial plant of Merit by the Missouri Botanical Garden .
To be chosen for this honor , a plant must be
– Missouri Botanical Garden , http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org / gardens - gardening / your - garden / help - for - the - home - nurseryman / plants - of - merit.aspx .
Iroquois Beauty ™ ( Aronia melanocarpa‘Morton ’ ) is a cultivar acquire by the Morton Arboretum , and it is more succinct and has more flowers than the species.www.mortonarb.org/news/five-shrubs-plant-fall .
Other cultivars of black chokeberries favored for production of aronia Charles Edward Berry , include ‘ McKenzie ’ ( collected in the former Soviet Union and introduced by Natural Resources Conservation Service Plant Materials Center , Bismarck ND ) , ‘ Nero ’ ( develop in Poland ) , and ‘ Viking ’ ( evolve in Finland , 1980 ) . A duo of morecompact cultivarsof black chokeberries — “ Low Scape Mound ” and “ Low Scape Hedger ” were recently develop and patented by a horticulture professor at the University of Connecticut . UConn Today .
Aronia arbutifolia‘Brilliantissima’is normally grown by the nursery industry for its cosmetic values . In this cultivar , all the desirable traits of the mintage have been heighten : it has more bloom and fruits , very glossy , glum fleeceable leave , and vivid red fall color . No wonder so many expert talk the extolment of this cultivar , and promote gardeners to employ it as a aboriginal substitute for the invasiveEuonymus alata(burning bush ) .
speak of burning George Herbert Walker Bush , I latterly got rid of mine . Will I lack the decline colors ? Yes , but not the ridiculous figure of seedlings that protrude up all over in their vicinity . Now I ’m on the lookout for aronias in local nurseries . They are ordinarily useable , though perhaps not this late in the season . Many online glasshouse offer aronias for sales agreement . And I just might try develop some disgraceful chokeberries for their fruits — andtheir fall colouration .
SOURCES :
“ Aronia : Native Shrubs with Untapped Potential,”Arnoldia , Arnold Arboretum ( Mark Brand , 2010),arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu
“ Aronia arbutifolia : Red Chokeberry,”University of Connecticut Plant Database , hort.uconn.edu/plants ( Mark H. Brand )
https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/aronia-arbutifolia-brilliantissima
www.wildflower.org/Prunus virginiana var . melanocarpa
plants.ces.ncsu.edu/NorthCarolinaExtensionGardenerPlantToolbox/Aronia arbutifolia
Univ.ofMaine Agric . Extension / Aronia / black chokeberry
Univ.of Maryland Extension / Alternative Crops / Aronia
Agricultural Marketing Resource Center / Aronia Berry
“ Aronia berries : Another superfruit for midwest agriculturalist ? ” Mich. State Extension ( 2016),www.canr.msu.edu / news program
UConn Today / Horticulturist Wins Patents for Modified Black Chokeberry Cultivars
USDA / Natural Resources Conservation Service / Black Chokeberry
fairchildgarden.org/Classifying Fruit
