SERVICE BERRY Amelanchier arborea (Michx. f.) Fern.
(Amelanchier canadensis Medic.)
THE downy service berry, or shadblow, as it is more commonly called in the East, has little economic importance except for its frequency throughout the State and the touch of beauty its flowers give to our forests early in the spring before the foliage has come out. It is a small tree 20 to 50 feet high and seldom over 8 inches in diameter, with a rather narrow, rounded top but is often little more than shrub. The name shadblow was given by the early settlers who noticed that it blossomed when the shad were running up the streams.
SERVICE BERRY
One-half natural size.
The bark is smooth and light gray, and shallowly fissured into scaly ridges. The winter buds are long and slender.
The leaves are alternate, slender-stalked, ovate, pointed, finely toothed, 2 to 4 inches long, densely white-hairy when young, then becoming a light green, and covered with scattered silky hairs.
The white flowers appear in erect or drooping clusters in early spring, before the leaves, making the tree quite conspicuous in the leafless or budding forest. The petals are slender and rather more than a half inch long.
The fruit is sweet, edible, rounded, reddish-purple when ripe, ⅓ to ½ an inch in diameter, ripening early in June. Birds and denizens of the forest are very fond of the berries.
The wood is heavy, exceedingly hard, strong, close-grained and dark brown. It is occasionally used for handles. This is a desirable ornamental tree and should be planted for this purpose and to encourage the birds.