''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
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 tot ...
and the eastern
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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, from
Newfoundland west to
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, and
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
, south as far as
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
and
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
.
Description
''Amelanchier laevis'' has stems of or which grow in small clumps. Its
petioles are with green blades which are
elliptic
In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in ...
and almost
ovate
Ovate may refer to:
* Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts
*Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe
*Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd
*Vates
In modern English, the nouns vates () and ova ...
. The leaves have 12–17 lateral veins and 6-8 teeth per cm. The white blossoms, which can be spectacular in mature specimens, develop from pink buds in spring. The fruit, which are
pomes, ripen in autumn. They are edible and can be eaten raw or cooked. The fruit has a sweet flavor. The bark can be made into a
herbal medicine for expectant mothers. It is a
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, ...
tree hardy in zones 4 to 8.
It is cultivated as an
ornamental shrub.
The cultivar 'R.J. Hilton', with richer spring and autumn leaf color than the species, 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.
References
External links
*
Photo taken in Virginia by David Stang, showing flowers of ''Amelanchier laevis''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q163825
laevis
Trees of Canada
Trees of the Eastern United States
Plants described in 1912
Taxa named by Karl McKay Wiegand