Distinguishing Features: The small, woody “cones” and the often orbicular, irregularly toothed leaves are the distinguishing marks of this species.
SHADBUSH
Amelanchier arborea (Michx. f.) Fern.
Other Names: Shadblow; Serviceberry.
Growth Form: Small tree up to 20 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 8 inches; crown rounded and spreading with many slender branchlets; trunk straight, slender, often divided into several trunks.
Bark: Smooth and silvery at first, later becoming darker and divided into loose scales.
Twigs: Slender, brown, with a few hairs when very young; leaf scars alternate, 2-ranked, slightly elevated, narrowly crescent-shaped, with 3 bundle traces.
Buds: Pointed, slender, brown, up to ½ inch long.
Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades oval to broadly lanceolate, pointed at the tip, rounded or sometimes a little heart-shaped at the base, finely toothed along the edges, green and smooth or nearly so on the upper surface, paler and often hairy on the lower surface, up to 4 inches long and about half as broad; leafstalks up to 2 inches long, smooth or hairy.
Flowers: Several produced in drooping clusters before the leaves appear, each showy with 5 white, oblong petals, with much of the flower hairy.