// SPECIES PROFILE · SHRUB · NATIVE

Black Chokeberry

Aronia melanocarpa

Black chokeberry is a tough, multi-stemmed native shrub bearing white spring flowers, glossy black antioxidant-rich fruit by August, and incandescent crimson fall foliage. Tolerates wet feet, clay soil, road salt, and drought once established — one of the most adaptable native shrubs for edible landscapes.

// QUICK FACTS

Family: Rosaceae
Group: shrub
Native range: E. North America incl. eastern OK riparian zones
USDA hardiness: Zones 3–8
Mature size: 3–6 ft
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Adaptable · prefers moist
Wildlife value: Cedar waxwings, robins, mockingbirds eat fruit; pollinator-visited flowers
Ecological role: antioxidant berry · wet sun · brilliant fall

Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) — *Aronia melanocarpa*. Photo via Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons.

Field Notes

[ growing · ecology · siting · care ]

Why it's on this list: antioxidant berry · wet sun · brilliant fall. Part of Rooted Revival's NE Oklahoma plant catalog — natives, ecologically positive non-invasive cultivars, and food crops worth growing in the Tulsa region.

Companion Planting

[ guild · polyculture · cross-layer pairings ]

In a multi-layered food-forest guild, black chokeberry pairs naturally with: black walnut (Juglans nigra), maypop / passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium), eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides), cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus), and american elderberry (Sambucus canadensis).

Site black chokeberry on the woodland edge or in the mid-layer of a guild beneath taller canopy trees.

Photo Reference

// Aronia melanocarpa — black chokeberry
Photo: aquarius98 (iNaturalist, CC-BY-NC)