Plant · P-388

Chokeberry Black

Aronia melanocarpa

Black Chokeberry is a suckering shrub that spreads into a widening clump on its own, tolerating both standing water and dry ground better than almost anything else in its genus. The fruit is intensely astringent raw, but rich in pectin and turns into good jam, jelly, juice, syrup and wine once cooked, and was traditionally dried for pemmican. White spring flowers feed early pollinators, and the persistent dark fruit and dense twiggy growth give birds food, shelter and a place to nest and roost through winter. Left alone it colonizes pond margins and swale bottoms, binding the soil as it spreads - useful ground to plan for, since it will fill it.