Amelanchier: Service-Berry or June-Berry

Author: Richard K. Lee

Higher Taxon: Family: Rosaceae

Description: "Shrubs or small trees. Leaves alternate, simple, petioled, toothed or entire-margined. Flowers in ours racemose. Hypanthium campanulate, becoming globose, adnate to the ovary. Sepals 5, white. Stamens many; filaments subulate. Styles 3-5, rarely less. Ovary inferior or nearly so, the cells becoming twice as many as the styles, by false partitions intruding from the back. Ovules solitary in each cell, erect. Pome berry-like, 6-10-celled (Rydberg)"

Species List: "The genus Amelanchier contains about 25 species and botanical varieties, chiefly native to North America with a very few native to Europe and Asia. Only 8 of this group are offered by American nurserymen (Wyman)."

Amelanchier alnifolia

A. arborea

A. bartramiana

A. canadensis

A. interior

A. laevis

A. sanguinea

A. utahensis

Species List given by Brako.

Identification guide: (Radford)

Ovary glabrous at summit

Hypanthium neck and base of sepals glabrous; racemes usu. drooping..... 1. A. arborea

Hypanthium neck and base of sepals pubescent; racemes erect.

Pedicels nearly uniform in length, usu. Les than 1 cm long ;

plant rhizomatous....................................................................................3. A. obovalis

Pedicels of varying lengths, the longest usu. more than 1 cm long;

plant not rhizomatous..............................................................................4. A. canadensis

Ovary pubescent at summit

Inflorescence nodding; teeth 2X as many as the veins..............................1. A. arborea

Inflorescence erect, or teeth fewer.

Teeth of leaves mostly 2X as man as the veins; plant rhizomatous...........5. A. spicata

Teeth of leaves fewer; plant not rhizomatous..........................................2. A. sanguinea

General Information: "The name Amelanchier is said to derive from the honey-tasting berries. Most of these berries are quickly eaten by birds preventing us from tasting those quite tasty berries in preserves. The names containing "shad" refers to the flowering time of the plant, which happens when the shad fish are running. The wood, called Meesassquat-ahtic, was prized by the Cree for making arrows (www.bonsaiwev.com)." Several species are grown ornamentally. "They are cultivated chiefly for their abundant white flowers produced in the spring (Hora)."

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References:

Brako, Lois, Amy Y. Rossman, & David F. Farr. 1995. Scientific and Common Names of 7,000

Vascular Plants in the United States. The American Phytopathological Society. St. Paul,

Minnesota. (ISBN 0-89054-171-X)

Hora, Bayard: consultant editor. 1981. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Trees of the World.

Oxford University Press. Oxford, London. (ISBN 0-1921-7712-5)

Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, & C. Ritchie Bell. 1964. Manual of Flora of the Carolinas.

University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC. (ISBN 0-8078-1087-8)

Rydberg, Per Axel. 1965. Flora of the Prairies and Plains of Central North America. Hafner Publishing Company. New York and London.

Wyman, Donald. 1971. Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia. Macmillan Publishing Company, Inc.. New York, New York.

http://www.bonsaiweb.com/care/faq/amalanchier.html