440 



The Serviceberries 



long as the blades or less. The 

 tree flowers in late February or early 

 March; the axis of the racemes, the 

 pedicels, and the ovate pointed ca- 

 lyx-lobes arc loosely hairy, becom- 

 ing smooth when old; the top of 

 the ovary is white-woolly. The 

 fruit is about 9 mm. in diameter. 



5. ROCKY MOUNTAIN 

 SERVICE TREE 



Amelanchier alnifolia Nuttall 



Fig. 386. Alabama Ser\4ceberry. 



Amelanchier oreophila A. Nelson 



While nearly always a mere shrub, this species occasionally develops, under 

 favorable conditions, into a small tree with a maximum observed height of about 

 5 meters. It inhabits hillsides and the banks of lakes and streams from western 

 Ontario to the valley of the Yukon River, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Nevada. 



The young twigs are loosely hair}% soon becoming smooth and gray-brown to 

 reddish brown; the winter buds are oblong, 4 or 5 mm. long, their scales smooth 

 or somewhat hairy. The leaves are 

 pale green, usually more or less hairy 

 when young, becoming smooth or 

 nearly so, and firm in texture when 

 mature; they vary from nearly orbic- 

 ular to elHptic or obovate-elUptic and 

 from 2 to 5 cm. long seldom twice as 

 long as wide, and are rather coarsely 

 and sharply toothed toward the apex, 

 the serrations sometimes extending 

 below the middle; their stalks are 

 hairy or smooth and usually less than 

 half as long as the blades. The 

 flowers are in short, loosely hairy, or 

 nearly smooth racemes, and open in 

 May or June, when the leaves are 

 nearly fully grown in size, though they 

 become much thicker later in the sea- 

 son; the calyx-lobes are lanceolate to 

 ovate-lanceolate, pointed, hairy, becoming smooth; the petals are linear, oblong- 

 linear or oblanceolate, 8 to 16 mm. long. The fruit is dark blue, about i cm. in 

 diameter, juicy and edible. 



Fig. 387. Rocky Mountain Service Tree. 



