Prunus virginiana
 
Choke Cherry

Stipule

Wood Mountain Regional Park
06-June-2004

Note that the key to the species in Flora of Alberta requires petioles not glandular; NOT [petioles usually glandular at the upper end].  However, P. virginiana does have glands at the upper end of the petiole.  This is confirmed by Flora of the Great Plains.  The rest of the answers to the keys are listed below.

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Virginiana: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this species. 
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leaves elliptic to obovate; NOT [leaves lanceolate]

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leaves abruptly short-acuminate; NOT [leaves long-acuminate]

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leaves sharply serrate; NOT [leaves irregularly serrulate with rounded teeth]

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flowers in long racemes at the ends of the branches; NOT [flowers in small umbels or corymbs], NOT [flowers in umbel-like clusters]

 

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Prunus: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora  and Flora of Alberta leading to this genus. 
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shrubs or trees; NOT [herbs, or with a woody base and otherwise herbaceous]

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plants taller; NOT [creeping dwarf shrubs]

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plants NOT spiny

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leaves simple; NOT [leaves compound or lobed]

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leaves serrate or toothed; NOT [leaves entire]

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flowers usually more numerous; NOT [flowers solitary on a long peduncle]

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ovary or ovaries superior, hypanthium free from the ovary; NOT [ovary inferior, enclosed in and adnate to the hypanthium]

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carpel 1; NOT [carpels 2 or more]

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fruit fleshy; NOT [fruit a leathery follicle]

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fruit a red or black drupe with a single stone; NOT [fruit a berry-like pome with several seeds]

 

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Rosaceae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora  leading to this family. 
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herbs; NOT [shrubs or trees]

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plants terrestrial or semiaquatic; NOT [plants aquatic, leaves submerged or floating]

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plants NOT with colored milky juice

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plants with more than one normal leaf

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some or all leaves alternate; NOT [leaves opposite, whorled, or basal]

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leaves with stipules; NOT [leaves without stipules, or having glands]

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flowers with two floral rings, and with each petal distinct from the others

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flowers regular in shape; NOT [flowers irregular in shape]

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calyx regular; NOT [calyx irregular, some sepals smaller than others]

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stamens usually separate or partly so, not in a column; NOT [stamens numerous, united into a column]

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ovary of one or more carpels, either separate or enclosed by a fleshy receptacle; NOT [ovary of 5 united carpels]