Chokeberry - Aronia prunifolia

Aronia prunifolia, or Chokeberry, is a perennial shrub native to Michigan and the U.P. This shrub has delightful flowers as early as May, followed by berries that ripen to dark purple in the fall. Typically 4 to 6 feet in height, it tends to be wide and bushy, and may sucker into colonies under ideal conditions. Leaves turn orange in fall.
 
Preferred habitat for Chokeberry would be moist soils along rivers, bogs, swamps, and swales with full sun to part shade. However, it grows in much dryer soils with some shade, even fields or dry sandy oak-pine forests, according to Michigan Flora. Also tolerant of rocky soils. Longer sun exposure increases flowering. Drier conditions decrease suckering.
 
It is evident that this shrub is in the rose family when looking at the small clusters of white or pinkish blossoms favored by early native bees. It is the host plant for Hairstreak and Underwing butterflies, as well as several moths and other insects. This is a recommended species in the Audubon native plant finder because it is used by mockingbirds, thrashers, waxwings, wood warblers, sparrows, vireos, and orioles. While the berries look delicious, astringent is this shrub's middle name and they are chokingly unpalatable, at least when raw. Cooked it can be used for jelly and jam, and I found one brief mention of the fruits being used dry. 
 
(There is an ongoing battle about whether this is a distinct species or a non-fertile cross between red and black chokeberries. Michigan is used as the evidence for the "distinct species" crowd, since this Chokeberry grows widely here where neither of the two parents is present.)