﻿370 TJie New York State College of Forestry 



Leaves alternate, deciduous, simple or compouud, petioled; stipules free 

 from the petioles, caducous. Floivers white or pink, in simple or conipoimd 

 cymes, terminal on short, often spinescent spurs or on leafy shoots; calyx- 

 tube urn-sliaped, the 5 lobes imbricated in the bud and generally persistent; 

 petals 5, rounded, short-clawed, spreading; stamens numerous, the filaments 

 persisting in the fruit; pistil consisting of a compound ovary of 3-5 cells 

 adnate to the calyx-tube terminated by a like nimiber of styles which are 

 free or united at the base and bear terminal stigmas; ovules 2 to each cell. 

 Fruit a large fleshy or small berr\--like pome formed by the enlarged ovary 

 and adnate calyx and crowned with the vestigial stamen-filaments and calyx- 

 lobes; seeds erect, lustrous bro'mi, exalbuminous. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES page 



1. Leaves simple; pome large, subglobose or pyriform 2 



1. Leaves compound; pome small and berry-like, globose 4 



2. Leaves coriaceous and lustrous above; fruit pjTiform, the flesh with grit 



cells P. communis 231 



2. Leaves membranous and dull above; fruit subglobose, the flesh without grit 



cells 3 



3. Leaves ovate, glabrous at maturity; petioles and fruit-stalks elongated and 



slender; branches spinescent P. coronaria 233 



3. Leaves ovate-oval, pubescent or woolly beneath; petioles and fruit-stalks short 



and stout; branches not spinescent P. Malus 235 



4. Leaflets lanceolate, taper-pointed, glabrous above; fruit J of an inch or 



less in diameter P. americana 237 



4. Leaflets narrowly oblong, obtuse, more or less pubescent on both sides; 



fruit more than | of an inch in diameter P. Aucuparia 239 



THE SERVICE BERRIES. Genus AMELANCHIER Medic. 



The genus Amelanchier includes trees and shrubs with slender 

 unarmed branches, lanceolate buds covered with closely imbricated 

 scales, simple petioled leaves and racemose or rarely solitarj' 

 flowers. The thirty or forty species are widely distributed 

 throughout the north temperate regions of both hemispheres. In 

 addition to the shrubby forms there are at least three arborescent 

 species indigenous to North America, two in the eastern states and 

 the third in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast region. 



Leaves alternate, deciduous, simple, entii-e or serrate, petioled; stipules 

 linear, caducous. Flowers borne on slender bibracteolate pedicels in erect or 

 nodding racemes or rarely solitary, appearing with the leaves; calyx-tube 

 campanulate or urceolate, adnate to the ovary, with 5 lanceolate, reflexed, 

 persistent lobes; petals 5, white, oblong-obovate, spatulate or ligulate, with 

 short claws; stamens numerous, inserted Avith the petals on the rim of the 

 calyx-tube, with subulate filaments and oblong anthers; pistil consisting of a 

 5-ceUed but falsely 10-celled ovary terminated by 2-5 styles which are connate 

 below and bear terminal truncate stigmas; ovules erect, 2 in each cell. Fruit 

 a small berry-like, globose pome maturing in our species in early summer, 

 purplish or blue when ripe, crowned with the calyx-lobes and persistent 

 stamen-filaments; flesh sweet, rather juicy, carpels membranaceous; seeds 

 5-10, oblong, compressed, exalbuminous. 



