''Amelanchier'' ( ), also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry (or just sarvis), juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum, wild-plum or chuckley pear,A Digital Flora of Newfoundland and Labrador Vascular Plants

/ref> is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of about 20 species of

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

-leaved

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from tree ...

s and small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s in the rose family (

Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among the most species-rich genera are '' Alchemilla'' (270), ''Sorb ...

). ''Amelanchier'' is native to temperate regions of the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

, growing primarily in early successional habitats. It is most diverse taxonomically in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, especially in the northeastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and adjacent southeastern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, and at least one species is native to every U.S. state except

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and to every Canadian province and territory. Two species also occur in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

, and one in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The taxonomic classification of shadbushes has long perplexed botanists, horticulturalists, and others, as suggested by the range in number of species recognized in the genus, from 6 to 33, in two recent publications. A major source of complexity comes from the occurrence of

hybridization Hybridization (or hybridisation) may refer to: *Hybridization (biology), the process of combining different varieties of organisms to create a hybrid *Orbital hybridization, in chemistry, the mixing of atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals *Nu ...

, polyploidy, and apomixis (asexual seed production), making

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

difficult to characterize and identify.University of Maine
''Amelanchier'' Systematics and Evolution
/ref> The various species of ''Amelanchier'' grow to 0.2–20 m tall; some are small trees, some are multistemmed, clump-forming shrubs, and yet others form extensive low shrubby patches ( clones). The

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, e ...

is gray or less often brown, and in tree species smooth or fissuring when older. The leaves are deciduous, cauline, alternate, simple, lanceolate to elliptic to orbiculate, 0.5–10 x 0.5–5.5 cm, thin to coriaceous, with surfaces above glabrous or densely tomentose at flowering, and glabrous or more or less hairy beneath at maturity. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are forme ...

s are terminal, with 1–20 flowers, erect or drooping, either in clusters of one to four flowers, or in

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s with 4–20 flowers. The

flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

have five white (rarely somewhat pink, yellow, or streaked with red), linear to orbiculate petals, 2.6–25 mm long, with the petals in one species (''A. nantucketensis'') often andropetalous (bearing apical microsporangia adaxially). The flowers appear in early spring, "when the

shad The Alosinae, or the shads,Alosinae
fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

is a berry-like pome, red to purple to nearly black at maturity, 5–15 mm diameter, insipid to delectably sweet, maturing in summer. ''Amelanchier'' plants are valued horticulturally, and their fruits are important to wildlife.

Selected species

For North American species, the taxonomy follows the ''Flora of North America'';Campbell, C. S., Dibble, A. C., Frye, C. T., & Burgess, M. B. (2015). ''Amelanchier''. In FNA Editorial Committee, ''Flora of North America'' 9. Magnoliophyta: Rosidae (in part): Rosales (in part). Oxford University Press, New York.
/ref> for Asian species the ''Flora of China'';Flora of China
''Amelanchier''
/ref> and for the one European species the ''Flora Europaea''.Flora Europaea
''Amelanchier''
/ref> *'' Amelanchier alnifolia'' – Saskatoon serviceberry, alder-leaved shadbush, saskatoon, saskatoon berry *'' Amelanchier arborea'' – downy serviceberry *'' Amelanchier asiatica'' – Korean juneberry or Asian serviceberry *'' Amelanchier australis'' *'' Amelanchier basalticola'' *''

Amelanchier bartramiana ''Amelanchier bartramiana'' is a species of serviceberry. Common names include mountain serviceberry, mountain shadbush, Bartram's serviceberry, mountain juneberry, Bartram juneberry, and the oblongfruit serviceberry. The leaves of ''A. bartram ...

'' – mountain shadbush *'' Amelanchier canadensis'' – Canada serviceberry, bilberry,Canadian Wildlife Federation
''Serviceberries''
/ref> eastern shadbush, Indian pear *'' Amelanchier humilis'' – low shadbush *'' Amelanchier interior'' – Wiegand's shadbush *'' Amelanchier intermedia'' *''

Amelanchier laevis ''Amelanchier laevis'', the smooth shadbush, smooth serviceberry or Allegheny serviceberry, is a North American species of tree in the rose family Rosaceae, growing up to tall. It is native to eastern Canada and the eastern United States, from ...

'' – smooth shadbush, smooth serviceberry, Allegheny serviceberry *''

Amelanchier lamarckii ''Amelanchier lamarckii'', also called juneberry, serviceberry or shadbush, is a large deciduous flowering shrub or small tree in the family Rosaceae. Description In spring the plant unfurls new leaves and produces star-shaped white flowers. T ...

'' – Juneberry *'' Amelanchier nantucketensis'' – Nantucket serviceberry *'' Amelanchier obovalis'' – Southern Juneberry, Coastal serviceberry *''

Amelanchier ovalis ''Amelanchier ovalis'', commonly known as snowy mespilus (a name which is also attached to the related '' A. lamarckii'') or serviceberry, is a deciduous shrub in the family Rosaceae. Its pome fruits are edible and can be eaten raw or cooked. The ...

'' – snowy mespilusFlora Europaea
''Amelanchier ovalis''
/ref> *'' Amelanchier pallida'' – pale serviceberry or western serviceberry *'' Amelanchier parviflora'' *''

Amelanchier sanguinea ''Amelanchier sanguinea'', known as red-twigged shadbush or roundleaf serviceberry, is a shrub native to eastern and central North America. Its native range stretches from New Brunswick to Saskatchewan south as far as northern Georgia. It is m ...

'' – red-twigged shadbush or roundleaf serviceberry *'' Amelanchier sinica'' – Chinese serviceberryFlora of China
''Amelanchier sinica''
/ref> *''

Amelanchier spicata ''Amelanchier spicata'', also referred to as the low juneberry, thicket shadbush, dwarf serviceberry, or low serviceberry (historically also called "pigeon berry"), is a species of serviceberry that has edible fruit, which are really pomes. They ...

'' – low juneberry, thicket shadbush, dwarf serviceberry, or low serviceberry *'' Amelanchier stolonifera'' – running serviceberry *'' Amelanchier utahensis'' – Utah serviceberry

Garden hybrids

Since classifications have varied greatly over the past century, species names are often used interchangeably in the nursery trade. Several natural or horticultural hybrids also exist, and many ''A. arborea'' and ''A. canadensis'' plants that are offered for sale are actually hybrids, or entirely different species. ''A''. × ''grandiflora'' is another hybrid of garden origin, between ''A. arborea'' and ''A. laevis''. The cultivar 'La Paloma' has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

’s

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

. A taxon called ''

'' (or ''A.'' x ''lamarckii'') is very widely cultivated and

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

in Europe, where it was introduced in the 17th century. It is apomictic, breeding true from seed, and probably of hybrid origin, perhaps descending from a cross between ''A. laevis'' and either ''A. arborea'' or ''A. canadensis''. While ''A. lamarckii'' is known to be of North American origin, probably from eastern Canada, it is not known to occur naturally in the wild in North America.Bean, W. J. (1976). ''Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles'' 8th ed., vol. 1. John Murray .Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain and Europe''. Collins .

Etymology

The origin of the generic name ''Amelanchier'' is probably derived from ''amalenquièr'', ''amelanchièr'', the Provençal names of the European ''

''.Jepson Flora
''Amelanchier alnifolia''
/ref> The name ''serviceberry'' comes from the similarity of the fruit to the related European ''

Sorbus ''Sorbus'' is a genus of over 100 species of trees and shrubs in the rose family, Rosaceae. Species of ''Sorbus'' (''s.l.'') are commonly known as whitebeam, rowan ( mountain-ash) and service tree. The exact number of species is disputed depe ...

''. A fanciful etymology explains the name 'serviceberry' by noting that the flowers bloom about the time roads in the Appalachian mountains became passable, allowing circuit-riding preachers to resume church services. A similar etymology says that blooming serviceberry indicated the ground had thawed enough to dig graves, so burial services could be held for those who died in the winter when the only way to deal with the bodies was to allow them to freeze and wait for spring. Both of these fanciful etymologies are unlikely to be correct since the term is attested for both English and New World species as early as the 16th century, well before settlement of English North America, and serviceberry is far from unique in blossoming early in the year. Juneberry refers to the fruits of certain species becoming ripe in June. The name saskatoon originated from a

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations. In Canada, over 350,000 people are Cree o ...

noun ''misâskwatômina'' (''misāskwatōmina'', ''misaaskwatoomina'') for '' Amelanchier alnifolia''. The city of

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, is named after this plant. Shadberry refers to the

shad The Alosinae, or the shads,Alosinae
Caterpillars of such

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described speci ...

as brimstone moth,

brown-tail The brown-tail moth (''Euproctis chrysorrhoea'') is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is native to Europe, neighboring countries in Asia, and the north coast of Africa. Descriptions of outbreaks, i.e., large population increases of several year ...

, grey dagger, mottled umber, rough prominent, the satellite,

winter moth :''In North America, "winter moth" usually denotes the invasive species ''Operophtera brumata'', but may also mean refer to a native species, ''Erannis tiliaria'' (linden looper) or '' Operophtera bruceata'' (bruce spanworm).'' The winter moth (' ...

, and the red-spotted purple and the white admiral (both ''

Limenitis arthemis ''Limenitis arthemis,'' the red-spotted purple or white admiral, is a North American butterfly species in the cosmopolitan genus '' Limenitis''. It has been studied for its evolution of mimicry, and for the several stable hybrid wing patterns w ...

''), as well as various other herbivorous insects feed on ''Amelanchier.'' Many insects and diseases that attack orchard trees also affect this genus, in particular trunk borers and '' Gymnosporangium'' rust. In years when late flowers of ''Amelanchier'' overlap those of wild roses and

brambles A bramble is any rough, tangled, prickly shrub, usually in the genus ''Rubus'', which grows blackberries, raspberries, or dewberries. "Bramble" is also used to describe other prickly shrubs, such as roses (''Rosa'' species). The fruits includ ...

, bees may spread bacterial fireblight.

Uses and cultivation

The fruit of several species are excellent to eat raw, sweetish, and strongly accented by the almond-like flavour of the seeds. Selections from '' Amelanchier alnifolia'' have been chosen for fruit production, with several named

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

s. Other cultivars appear to be derived from hybridization between ''A. alnifolia'' and '' A. stolonifera''. Propagation is by seed, divisions, and grafting. Serviceberries graft so readily that grafts onto other genera, such as '' Crataegus'' and ''

'', are often successful. The fruit can be harvested for pies, muffins, jams, and wine. The

saskatoon berry ''Amelanchier alnifolia'', the Saskatoon berry, Pacific serviceberry, western serviceberry, western shadbush, or western juneberry, is a shrub with an edible berry-like fruit, native to North America. Description It is a deciduous shrub or sma ...

is harvested commercially. One version of the Native American food pemmican was flavored by serviceberry fruits in combination with minced dried meat and fat. The

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

is brown, hard, close-grained, and heavy. The heartwood is reddish-brown, and the sapwood is lighter in color. It can be used for tool handles and fishing rods. Native Americans used it for arrow shafts. Members of the Pit River Tribe would use the wood to create a sort of body armor, crafting it into a heavy robe or overcoat and corset armor worn during fighting.Merriam, C. Hart 1966 Ethnographic Notes on California Indian Tribes. University of California Archaeological Research Facility, Berkeley (p. 222)

Garden history

Several species are very popular ornamental shrubs, grown for their flowers, bark, and fall color. All need similar conditions to grow well, requiring good drainage, air circulation (to discourage leaf diseases), watering during drought, and

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...

appropriate for the species.

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

planted specimens of ''Amelanchier'' on the grounds of his estate, Mount Vernon, in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

References

External links

''Juneberry''
in What Am I Eating? A Food Dictionary {{Authority control Rosaceae genera Plants used in Native American cuisine Fruit trees