SERVICEBERRY 



(Amelanchier Canadensis) 



THIS tree will never be other than a minor species in the United 

 States, but it is not a worthless member of the forest. It belongs 

 to the rose family, and therefore is near akin to the haws, thorns, and 

 crabapples. The genus is found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as 

 in the United States. Two tree species occur in this country, or, ac- 

 cording to some botanists, three, one west of the Rocky Mountains, two 

 east. 



The serviceberry has a number of names : June berry, service-tree, 

 May cherry, Indian cherry, wild Indian pear, currant tree, shadberry, 

 savice, and sarvice. The northern limit of its range is in Newfoundland, 

 the southern in Florida. It grows westward to Minnesota and Arkansas ; 

 but it is not plentiful except in certain restricted localities. It is most 

 abundant among the ranges of the Appalachian mountains, and of its 

 largest size toward the south. It is dispersed through forests generally, 

 a tree or bush here and there; but it prefers the borders of forests, the 

 brinks of cliffs, banks of streams, or some other open space where light 

 is abundant. It prospers most in rich soil but does fairly well in ground 

 thin and dry. 



The bloom, where it occurs, is a conspicuous feature of the land- 

 scape, though generally a tree on ten or twenty acres represents the 

 density of its stand. The white, showy bloom comes early in spring, 

 when most trees are yet bare of leaves. Occasionally, however, the 

 serviceberry is more abundant, and the rows and clumps of blooming 

 trees along creek banks or about the margins of glades or other openings 

 in the forests, look like distant snowdrifts. 



The fruit is a berry a half inch or less in diameter, bright red when 

 fully grown in early summer, and changing to purple when ripe. The 

 seeds are brown and very small, and each berry contains from five to ten. 

 When circumstances are favorable, the tree is a prolific bearer, the slen- 

 der branches bending beneath the weight. The tree need not reach any 

 particular size before beginning to bear. On some of the severely 

 burned summits of the Alleghany mountains in West Virginia, 4,000 feet 

 or more above sea level, this tree, when only two or three feet high, bears 

 abundantly. Such trees are probably sprouts from roots of older trunks 

 destroyed by fire. At its best, it reaches a height of forty or fifty feet 

 and a diameter of one or possibly two feet. Trunks of largest size occur 

 among the southern Appalachian ranges. 



The wood is heavy and very hard and strong. It is liable to check 



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