6. AMELANCHIER Med.
Trees or shrubs, with scaly bark, slender terete branchlets, acute or acuminate buds, with imbricated scales, those of the inner rows accrescent and bright-colored, and fibrous roots. Leaves alternate, conduplicate in the bud, simple, entire or serrate, penniveined, petiolate, deciduous; stipules free from the petioles, linear, elongated, rose color, caducous. Flowers in erect or terminal racemes, on slender bibracteolate pedicels developed from the axils of lanceolate acuminate pink deciduous bracts; calyx-tube campanulate or urceolate, the lobes acute or acuminate, recurved, persistent on the fruit; disk green, entire or crenulate, nectariferous; petals white, obovate-oblong, spatulate or ligulate, rounded, acute or truncate at apex, gradually contracted below into a short slender claw; stamens usually 20, inserted in 3 rows, those of the outer row opposite the petals; filaments subulate, persistent on the fruit, anthers oblong; ovary inferior or superior, more or less adnate to the calyx-tube, the summit glabrous or tomentose, 5-celled, each cell incompletely divided by a false partition; styles 2—5, connate below, spreading and dilated above into a broad truncate stigma; ovules 2 in each cell, erect; micropyle inferior. Fruit subglobose or pyriform, dark blue or bluish black, often covered with a glaucous bloom, open at the summit, the cavity surrounded by the lobes of the calyx and the remnants of the filaments; flesh sweet, dry or juicy; carpels membranaceous, free or connate, glabrous, or villose at apex. Seeds 10 or often 5 by the abortion of 1 of the ovules in each cell, ovoid-ellipsoid; seed-coat coriaceous, dark chestnut-brown, mucilaginous; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons plano-convex; radicle inferior.
Amelanchier is widely distributed with many species through the temperate, northern and mountainous regions of eastern and western North America; it occurs with one species in southern Europe, northern Africa and southwestern Asia, and with another in central and western China and Japan. Only three species, all North American, attain the habit and size of trees. The fruit of nearly all the species is more or less succulent, and several are cultivated in gardens for the beauty of their early and conspicuous flowers, and occasionally for their fruit. The name is of doubtful origin.
CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.
Leaves finely serrate, acute or acuminate at apex; flowers on elongated pedicels in nodding racemes; summit of the ovary glabrous; winter-buds lanceolate, long-acuminate. Leaves densely white tomentose while young; flowers appearing before or as the leaves unfold in silky tomentose racemes; calyx-lobes ovate, acuminate or nearly triangular and acute; fruit dry and tasteless.1. [A. canadensis] (A). Leaves slightly pubescent as they unfold, soon glabrous, dark red-brown while young; flowers appearing after the leaves are nearly half grown in glabrous racemes; calyx-lobes lanceolate or subulate, long-acuminate; fruit sweet and succulent.2. [A. laevis] (A). Leaves coarsely serrate usually only above the middle, rounded at apex, oblong-ovate or oval; flowers on shorter pedicels in short erect or spreading racemes; summit of the ovary covered with hoary tomentum; winter-buds ovoid or ellipsoid, acute or short-acuminate.3. [A. florida] (F, C, G).
1. [Amelanchier canadensis] Med. Service Berry. Shad Bush.
Amelanchier canadensis var. tomentula Sarg.
Leaves ovate-oval, oblong-obovate or rarely lanceolate or oblanceolate, acuminate and often abruptly short-pointed at apex, rounded, slightly cordate or occasionally cuneate at base, and finely serrate with acuminate teeth pointing forward; thickly coated when they unfold with silvery white tomentum, more or less densely pale pubescent below until midsummer, later becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous, yellowish green on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, usually 2′—4′ long and 1′—2′ wide, southward sometimes up to 6′ in length, with a slender midrib, and thin primary veins; petioles slender, hoary-tomentose at first, usually becoming glabrous by midsummer, 1½′—2′ in length. Flowers ¼′—⅓′ long, appearing in early spring before or as the leaves unfold, on pedicels ¼′—½′ in length, in short nodding silky tomentose racemes, their bracts and bractlets linear-lanceolate, villose, bright red; calyx-tube campanulate, glabrous or densely hoary-tomentose, the lobes ovate, acuminate or nearly triangular and acute, glabrous or hoary-tomentose on the outer surface, tomentose on the inner surface, reflexed after the petals fall; petals oblong-obovate, rounded or nearly truncate at apex, about ⅙′ wide; summit of ovary glabrous. Fruit ripening in June and July, maroon-purple, dry and tasteless, about ¼′ in diameter.
A tree, occasionally 50°—70° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, small erect and spreading branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender branchlets thickly covered when they first appear with long white hairs, soon glabrous, bright red-brown during their first year, becoming darker in their second season, and marked by numerous pale lenticels; usually smaller, and in the south Atlantic and Gulf states sometimes a shrub only a few feet tall. Winter-buds green tinged with brown, ½′—⅔′ long, about 1/12′ thick. Bark ¼′—½′ thick, dark ashy gray, divided by shallow fissures into longitudinal ridges covered by small persistent scales.
Distribution. At the north usually on dry exposed hills, on the borders of woods and in fence rows, southward often on the banks of streams and the borders of swamps; valley of the Penobscot River (Winn and Milford, Penobscot County) and Washington County (Pembroke, M. L. Fernald), Maine; Quebec (near Longueuil, Bro. M. Victorin); valley of the Connecticut River (central Vermont, southern New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut), and westward through western Massachusetts, New York, southern Ontario, southern Ohio, southern Michigan, and Indiana and Illinois; in central Iowa and southeastern Nebraska (Nemaha County, J. M. Bates), and southward to western Florida, southern Alabama, south central Mississippi, Louisiana westward to St. Landry Parish (near Opelousas, R. S. Cocks), northwestern Arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma; rare and of small size in the south Atlantic coast-region; ascending the southern Appalachian Mountains to altitudes of about 2200°, not common; abundant and probably of its largest size in western New York and southern Michigan.
Occasionally cultivated, and the first of all the cultivated species to flower in the spring.
2. [Amelanchier laevis] Wieg. Service Berry.
Amelanchier canadensis of many authors, in part, not L.
Leaves ovate to elliptic or rarely lanceolate, acute or acuminate and often abruptly short-pointed at apex, rounded and occasionally slightly cordate or rarely cuneate at base, and sharply and coarsely serrate with subulate callous-tipped teeth, covered when they unfold with long matted pale hairs more abundant on the lower surface than on the upper surface, soon glabrous, dark red-brown until nearly half grown, and at maturity dark green and slightly glaucous above, paler below, usually 2′—2½′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, rarely 3′—3½′ long and not more than 1′ wide, with a thin midrib and primary veins, rarely deep green and lustrous above (f. nitida Wieg.); petioles slender, slightly villose at first, soon glabrous, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers ½′—¾′ long, appearing when the leaves are nearly half grown on pedicels ½′—1′ in length, in open few-flowered nodding racemes, becoming much lengthened before the fruit ripens, their bracts and bractlets linear-lanceolate, slightly villose, tinged with rose color; calyx-tube campanulate, glabrous, the lobes lanceolate or subulate, long-acuminate, glabrous on the outer surface, tomentose on the inner surface, usually reflexed before the petals fall; petals oblong-obovate, rounded at apex, about ⅙′ wide; summit of the ovary glabrous. Fruit ripening in June and July, obovoid to subglobose, usually rather broader than long, about ⅓′ in diameter, purple or nearly black, glaucous, sweet and succulent, on pedicels often 1½′—2′ in length.
A tree, sometimes 30°—40° high, often with a tall trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, small spreading branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender glabrous branchlets reddish brown when they first appear, rather darker during their first winter and dull grayish brown in their second season, and marked by small dark lenticels; at the north often a shrub sometimes only a few feet high. Winter-buds ½′ long, about 1/12′ thick, green tinged with red, the inner scales lanceolate, bright red above the middle, ciliate with silky white hairs, and sometimes 1′ long when fully grown. Bark ¼′—½′ thick, dark reddish brown, divided by shallow fissures into narrow longitudinal ridges and covered by small persistent scales. Wood heavy, exceedingly hard, strong, close-grained, dark brown sometimes tinged with red, with thick lighter-colored sapwood of 40—50 layers of annual growth; occasionally used for the handles of tools and other small implements.
Distribution. Cool ravines and hillsides; Newfoundland, through the maritime provinces of Canada, Quebec and Ontario to northern Wisconsin, and southward through New England, New York and Pennsylvania, and along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia; on the North Carolina Mountains ascending to altitudes of 5500°; common and generally distributed at the north and in New England, New York and through the Appalachian forests; the forma nitida only in Newfoundland.
Occasionally cultivated and very beautiful in spring with its abundant pure white flowers and conspicuous red-brown leaves.
3. [Amelanchier florida] Lindl. Service Berry.
Amelanchier alnifolia Sarg., probably not Nutt.
Amelanchier Cusickii Fern.
Leaves oblong-ovate to oval or ovate, or at the end of vigorous shoots broad-ovate or occasionally broad-obovate, rounded or rarely acute at apex, rounded or slightly cordate at base, and coarsely serrate only above the middle with straight teeth; when they unfold often tinged with red and sometimes floccose-pubescent below, usually soon glabrous, at maturity thin, dark green on the upper surface, pale and rarely pubescent on the lower surface, 1½′—2½′ long, and 1′—1½′ wide, with a thin midrib and about ten pairs of primary veins; petioles slender, at first glabrous or puberulous becoming glabrous, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers ½′—¾′ long, appearing when the leaves are about half grown on pedicels ⅙′—¼′ in length, in short crowded erect glabrous or pubescent racemes, their bracts and bractlets scarious, slightly villose; calyx-tube campanulate, glabrous or tomentose, the lobes ovate, long-acuminate, glabrous or tomentose on the outer surface, tomentose or rarely nearly glabrous on the inner surface, soon reflexed; petals oblong-obovate gradually narrowed or broad at the rounded apex, ⅙′—¼′ wide; summit of the ovary densely tomentose. Fruit usually ripening in July, on pedicels ½′—¾′ long, in short nearly erect or spreading racemes, short-oblong or ovoid, dark blue, more or less covered with a glaucous bloom, ¼′ to nearly ½′ in diameter, sweet and succulent.
A tree, occasionally 30°—40° high, with a tall trunk 12′—14′ in diameter, small erect and spreading branches forming an oblong open head, and slender branchlets glabrous, pubescent or puberulous when they first appear, bright red-brown and usually glabrous during their first season, rather darker in their second year, and ultimately dark gray-brown; more often a large or small shrub. Winter-buds ovoid to ellipsoidal, acute or acuminate, dark chestnut-brown, glabrous or puberulous, ⅙′—¼′ long, scales of the inner ranks ovate, acute, brightly colored, coated with pale silky hairs, ½′—¾′ long. Bark about ⅛′ thick, smooth or slightly fissured, and light brown slightly tinged with red. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, light brown. The nutritious fruit was an important article of food with the Indians of northwestern America, who formerly gathered and dried it in large quantities.
Distribution. Valley of the Yukon River (near Dawson) and Wrangell, Alaska, and southward to the coast region of British Columbia, and southward in Washington and Oregon possibly to northern California, ranging east in the United States to western Idaho, and probably to the northern Rocky Mountain region; its range, like that of the other species of western North America, still very imperfectly known.