Downy Serviceberry
Amelanchier arborea
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Downy serviceberry grows from New Brunswick south to Florida, and west to eastern Minnesota, eastern Nebraska, and northeastern Texas. It thrives in moist, well-drained, acidic soils, though it grows in a wide range of conditions.
Fruit: A 6-10 mm wide red or purplish red pome. They display from May to August.
Flowers: A white or pale pink flower arranged in terminal clusters on racemes. They appear in the spring just before the leaves.
Uses: Downy serviceberry is sometimes planted as an ornamental for its showy flowers. Fruit can be eaten raw or cooked.
Ethnobotany: Cree Indians were known to use the wood to make arrows.
Importance to wildlife: Downy serviceberry supports Red-spotted Purple and Viceroy larvae. Fruits are eaten by birds and mammals.
The bark of a downy serviceberry. Bark is grayish and smooth.
A single leaf on a downy serviceberry. Leaves are 5-10 cm long, finely toothed, heart shaped at the base, dark green and glabrous above, and white-hairy beneath when young but glabrous at maturity.
The leaf arrangement on a downy serviceberry. Though leaves look nearly opposite, a closer inspection shows that they are alternate with nodes at slightly different places.
A bud on a downy serviceberry. Terminal buds are 6-14 mm long, green to reddish brown and often tinged with pink, with 5-6 visible scales. Lateral buds are similar but curve towards the twig.
A branch coming off of a downy serviceberry stump. Serviceberries can be either a shrub or a small tree, hence the low branching.
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