A cluster of flowers hangs down from a limb. You look up. They’re so beautiful, with a perfectly round, deep-set yellow center, and a white stigma like a dot sticking out. The symmetry in each blossom is so perfect, you almost suspect them of being man-made. But no, they are as real as life and twice as natural.
![IMG_3698[1]](https://www.pubwages.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_36981.jpg)
The blossoms hang from a tree almost as tall as a nearby oak.
![IMG_3705[1]](https://www.pubwages.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_37051.jpg)
But this is no oak. It is the chokecherry tree.
![IMG_3696[2]](https://www.pubwages.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_36962.jpg)
Some of the clusters of blooms hang horizontally and others vertically.
![IMG_3703[1]](https://www.pubwages.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_37031.jpg)
Before they open, the blossoms look like little white globes.
It is always a big surprise to find such a treasure growing in plain sight, but so utterly unnoticed.
![IMG_3702[1]](https://www.pubwages.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_37021.jpg)
But did you know that these blossoms in due course will turn into edible fruit? The chokecherry is too bitter to eat unsweetened, hence the name, but if you add sugar it makes a fine jelly. Just don’t eat the pits — they contain cyanide and are toxic.
![IMG_3700[1]](https://www.pubwages.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_37001.jpg)
Chokecherries grow wild up in the San Bernardino Mountains. I ate a very in their raw state, and they are a bit sour. The Serrano Indians used to eat these, and mix these with other foods.
That is good to know, Julia, that chokecherries grow both in the San Bernardino Mountains and in the Ozarks. I am glad to learn that you were able to eat them in their raw state, too. I usually like my cherries sour, anyway, so I may give that a try, but if there are enough, I might want to make jelly.
From what I have read chokecherries can be toxic to humans in their raw state, but I did eat a few raw. I also ate a few acorns in their raw state, and they say these are toxic as well. I think maybe for most people these two need to be cooked. For some reason I ate a small amount of these and it did not impact me. I am guessing Native Americans probably did the same thing.
Well, it certainly is hard to tell how seriously toxicity of any substance is to be taken, when they never give the dosages in comparison to body weight. I am sure, for instance, that chocolate is toxic to dogs as they say, but not in the dosages it was fed to dogs in our household before we were told that. I am sure chocolate is also toxic to humans, if the dosage is high enough.
I do understand that the chokecherry pit contains cyanide and should not be ingested, as is also true of the leaves. But I am not sure if the fruit is toxic raw or just too sour or bitter for most people to enjoy.