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Summary
Duration	Perennial
Growth Habit	Tree, Shrub
U.S. Nativity	Native to U.S.
Federal T/E Status
National Wetland Indicator	FACU, FAC
Morphology/Physiology
Active Growth Period	Spring and Summer
After Harvest Regrowth Rate
Bloat	None
C:N Ratio	Medium
Coppice Potential	No
Fall Conspicuous	No
Fire Resistant	No
Flower Color	Yellow
Flower Conspicuous	Yes
Foliage Color	Dark Green
Foliage Porosity Summer	Dense
Foliage Porosity Winter	Porous
Foliage Texture	Medium
Fruit/Seed Color	Brown
Fruit/Seed Conspicuous	No
Growth Form	Single Stem
Growth Rate	Moderate
Height at 20 Years, Maximum (feet)	25
Height, Mature (feet)	50
Known Allelopath	No
Leaf Retention	No
Lifespan	Moderate
Low Growing Grass	No
Nitrogen Fixation
Resprout Ability	Yes
Shape and Orientation	Erect
Toxicity	None
Growth Requirements
Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils	Yes
Adapted to Fine Textured Soils	No
Adapted to Medium Textured Soils	Yes
Anaerobic Tolerance	Medium
CaCO3 Tolerance	None
Cold Stratification Required	Yes
Drought Tolerance	Low
Fertility Requirement	Medium
Fire Tolerance	Medium
Frost Free Days, Minimum	120
Hedge Tolerance	Low
Moisture Use	Medium
pH, Minimum	5.5
pH, Maximum	7.5
Planting Density per Acre, Minimum	700
Planting Density per Acre, Maximum	1700
Precipitation, Minimum	28
Precipitation, Maximum	45
Root Depth, Minimum (inches)	20
Salinity Tolerance	None
Shade Tolerance	Tolerant
Temperature, Minimum (°F)	-33
Reproduction
Bloom Period	Mid Spring
Commercial Availability	Contracting Only
Fruit/Seed Abundance	Medium
Fruit/Seed Period Begin	Spring
Fruit/Seed Period End	Summer
Fruit/Seed Persistence	No
Propagated by Bare Root	Yes
Propagated by Bulb	No
Propagated by Container	Yes
Propagated by Corm	No
Propagated by Cuttings	Yes
Propagated by Seed	Yes
Propagated by Sod	No
Propagated by Sprigs	No
Propagated by Tubers	No
Seed per Pound	79832
Seed Spread Rate	Moderate
Seedling Vigor	Low
Small Grain	No
Vegetative Spread Rate	None
Suitability/Use
Berry/Nut/Seed Product	Yes
Christmas Tree Product	No
Fodder Product	No
Fuelwood Product	None
Lumber Product	No
Naval Store Product	No
Nursery Stock Product	No
Palatable Browse Animal	Medium
Palatable Graze Animal	Low
Palatable Human	Yes
Post Product	No
Protein Potential
Pulpwood Product	No
Veneer Product	No

 

Kingdom  Plantae -- Plants

Subkingdom  Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants

Superdivision  Spermatophyta -- Seed plants

Division  Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants

Class  Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons

Subclass  Rosidae

Order  Rosales

Family  Rosaceae -- Rose family

Genus  Amelanchier Medik. -- serviceberry P

Species  Amelanchier arborea (Michx. f.) Fern. -- common serviceberry P

 

Alternate common names

Sarvis-berry, shadblow, shadbush, juneberry, sugarplum, Indian cherry

 

Uses

Trees of downy serviceberry are generally not large enough for sawtimber but they have been used for pulpwood.  The wood is extremely heavy and hard and is occasionally made into tool handles.  Cree Indians prized it for making arrows.  

 

At least 40 bird species (for example, mockingbirds, cardinals, cedar waxwings, towhees, Baltimore orioles) eat the fruit of Amelanchier species.  Mammals that either eat the fruit or browse the twigs and leaves of downy serviceberry include squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, mice, voles, foxes, black bears, deer, and elk.  The fruits taste similar to blueberry – they are eaten fresh or cooked in pastries or puddings. 

 

The trees are used as ornamentals and many cultivars have been selected for variation in growth habit, flower size and color, and leaf color.  The fall foliage blends orange and gold with red and green.  It grows in partial shade to full sun, preferring moist but well-drained soil but will also grow in dry sites.

 

Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status, such as, state status and wetland indicator values.

 

Description

Rose Family (Rosaceae).  Native shrubs or small trees to 10 meters tall, with a narrow, rounded crown, the twigs often red-brown to purplish, becoming gray; bark smooth, grayish, "striped" with vertical fissures and very ornamental.  Leaves: deciduous, alternate, simple, oval to oblong, 5-13 cm long, glabrous above, pubescent and paler beneath, the base rounded or heart-shaped, acute or acuminate at the tip, with finely toothed margins.  Flowers: 3-15 in elongate clusters at the branch tips, before the leaves appear; petals 5, white, 10-14 mm long and strap-like.  Fruits 6-12 mm wide, on long stalks, red-purple at maturity; seed 5-10 per fruit.  The common name: in some regions, the flowers are gathered for church services, hence serviceberry or sarvis-berry; or “service” from “sarvis,” in turn a modification of the older name “Sorbus,” a closely related genus. 

 

Variation within the species: Three varieties have been recognized: var. alabamensis (Britt.) G.N. Jones; var. arborea; and var. austromontana (Ashe) Ahles.

 

Distribution

Downy serviceberry is widespread in the eastern US and southeastern Canada (New Brunswick and southern Newfoundland to Quebec and Ontario); south to the northern tip of the Florida Panhandle and west to Alabama, southern Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas (rare), Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Minnesota.  

 

Adaptation

Downy serviceberry grows in a variety of habitats – swampy lowlands, dry woods, sandy bluffs, rocky ridges, forest edges, and open woodlands and fields.  It is a late successional to climax species in mixed-hardwood forests of the central U.S., commonly as an understory species.  In the southern Appalachians, downy serviceberry grows in red spruce-Fraser fir forests at elevations of 1500-2000 meters with yellow birch, mountain ash, elderberry, and hobblebush.  Flowering (March-)April-May, among the first of the early spring trees and shrubs to bloom; fruiting June-August. 

 

Establishment

Downy serviceberry regenerates mainly by seed, but it also sprouts from the roots.  Birds and mammals disperse seeds; scarification of the seeds after ingestion by birds is important for germination.  Seeds can be sown after 2-6 months of cold stratification, but they will not usually germinate until after the second spring.  

 

Management

Fire top-kills downy serviceberry, but it can sprout from root crowns and stumps following fire.  A significant portion of the post-fir reestablishment is from seed dispersed from off-site by birds and mammals.  Following wildfire in a spruce-fir forest of Appalachia, downy serviceberry was present in stands after 30 years but was less than 1% of the total basal area.   Gypsy moth larvae (Lymantria dispar) feed selectively on downy serviceberry.  

 

Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

Natural, fertile hybrids occur between downy serviceberry and A. bartramiana, A. canadensis, A. humilis, and A. laevis.   Some cultivars are selections from A. X grandiflora, the hybrid of A. arborea and A. laevis.  Many individuals within Amelanchier arise through hybridization and species boundaries are often not clear.  

 

References

Campbell, C.S., M.F. Wojciechowski, B.G. Baldwin, L.A. Alice, & M.J. Donoghue 1997.  Persistent nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence polymorphism in the Amelanchier agamic complex (Rosaceae).  Molecular Biol. Evol. 14:81-90.  

 

Campbell C.S., W.A. Wright, T.F. Vining, & W.A. Halteman 1997.  Morphological variation in sexual and agamospermous Amelanchier (Rosaceae).  Canad. J. Bot. 75:1166-1173.

 

Campbell, C.S., C.W. Greene, & S.E. Bergquist 1987.  Apomixis and sexuality in three species of Amelanchier, shadbush (Rosaceae, Maloideae).  Amer. J. Bot. 74:321-328.

 

Campbell, C.S. & W.A. Wright 1996.  Apomixis, hybridization, and taxonomic complexity in eastern North American Amelanchier (Rosaceae).  Folia Geobot. Phytotax. 31:345-354.    

 

Dibble, A.C. 1995.  Conservation biology of shadbush, Amelanchier (Rosaceae): Evidence from systematics, population structure and reproductive ecology (Amelanchier nantucketensis, Amelanchier stolonifera, Amelanchier obovalis, Amelanchier lucida).  Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Maine, Orono, Maine.

 

Harris, R.E. 1970.  The genus Amelanchier.  J. Roy. Hort. Soc. 95:116-118.

 

Iverson, R. 1981.  Amelanchiers.  Amer. Horticult. 60(10):26-27, 36-37.

 

Landry, P. 1976.  Taxonomy and distribution of Amelanchier arborea (Michx. f.) Fern. in Quebec and through the Maritimes.  Naturaliste Canad. 103:377-385.  

 

McDaniel, J.C. 1974.  Nomenclature: perennial problem in Amelanchier arborea.  Amer. Nurseryman 139(7):66-68.  

 

Overath, R.D. & J.L. Hamrick 1998.  Allozyme diversity in Amelanchier arborea and A. laevis (Rosaceae).  Rhodora 100:276-292. 

 

Snyder, S.A. 1992.  Amelanchier arborea.  IN: W.C. Fischer (compiler).  The fire effects information system [Database].  USDA, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, Montana.  <https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/>

 

Robinson, W.A. 1986.  Effect of fruit ingestion on Amelanchier seed germination.  Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 113:131-134. 

 

Weaver, R.E. 1974.  The shadbushes.  Arnoldia (Jamaica Plain) 34:22-31.

 

Prepared By

Guy Nesom

Formerly BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

 

Species Coordinator

Lincoln Moore

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

Edited: 17jan01 jsp;07feb03ahv; 30may06jsp

 

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS Web site<https://plants.usda.gov> or the Plant Materials Program Web site <https://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov>

 

 

 

Attribution:  U.S. Department of Agriculture