THE DWARF JUNEBERRY OR SHADBUSH 



A LTHOUGH there has been some difference of opinion among students of trees as 

 /_A as to whether the Dwarf Juneberry should take rank as a distinct species or not, 

 * -^- it is readily distinguished by anyone in spring and summer. When the leaves 

 and blossoms are developing the growing parts are covered with a dense coating of short 

 white hairs that serves to identify it at once. Later this hairy coating is largely lost, 

 but the form may then be known by the leaves, which are longer and more slender than 

 those of the Canada Juneberry. The petals of the flowers are short and broad in the 

 Dwarf species, and long and narrow in the Canada species. The former commonly occurs 

 as a low shrub along the borders of marshes and streams over a very large part of the 

 United States, from Minnesota eastward. In many localities along the coast it is called 

 the Shadbush, because it blossoms at the time the shad come up the rivers, while in interior 

 regions it is called the Swamp Sugar Pear, because of the sweetness of the red fruits that 

 ripen early in summer. 



In the western regions of North America the Alder-leaved Service-berry (Amelanchier 

 aim 'folia) seems to take the place of the Eastern forms. This is readily known by its 

 characteristic leaves, which are short and broad and distinctly serrate on the terminal 

 half of the margin. It extends northward to the Yukon River and eastward to Michigan. 

 Its fruits, instead of being red like the Juneberries, are bluish black with more or less of a 

 glaucous bloom. These fruits have long been highly valued by the Indians, who dry them 

 for food. 



The especial value of the various species of Shadbush from the point of view of 

 the landscape gardener lies in the beauty of their blossoms in early spring. They can be 

 used to light up a landscape picture at a time when they are especially welcome, and one 

 form or another may be utilized in almost any sort of soil and to produce its effect at almost 

 any height. 



During recent years botanists have classified certain other shrubby forms of native 

 Shadbushes as distinct species ; and one species from Europe and another from Asia have 

 been introduced for landscape use. The former is the European Service Berry (Amelan- 

 chier vulgaris) : it is a low shrub with short racemes of w T hite flowers which are succeeded 

 by blue-black fruits. The latter (Amelanchier Asiatica) is a small tree from China and 

 Japan with its flowers arranged in compound racemes 



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