http://ohiodnr.com/forestry/trees/chokeberry_bk/tabid/5354/Default.aspx

Division of Forestry
2045 Morse Rd.
Building H1.
Columbus, OH 43229

Black Chokeberry is scattered throughout Ohio, where it is found as thickets in both wet soils and dry sites. The fibrous root system holds soil well, and the suckering habit and self-sowing nature of this shrub allows for the formation of a large colony within a few years. Abundant black fruits in autumn and winter serve as a source of food for desperate wildlife, when no other tasty food is left, as the name "chokeberry" implies about their astringent tasting quality.

Black Chokeberry may reach 8 feet tall by 8 feet wide as an individual specimen of great age, and is strongly multistemmed. In natural settings, its strong tendency to sucker, self-sowing nature, and arching branches give it a colony growth habit of indeterminate width (like Sumacs). As a member of the Rose Family, it is related to the Serviceberries, Hawthorns, Crabapples, Plums, Cherries, Pears, and Roses, as well as other Chokeberry species