358 TKEES IN WINl^ER 



SHAD BUSH 

 Service Berry, Shadblow, Juneberry. 



Amelanchier canadensis (L.) Medic. 



HABIT — A shrub or small tree 10-25 ft. in height with a trunk 

 diameter of 6-10 inches, sometimes reaching a height of 40 ft. with a 

 trunk diameter of li^ ft.; of variable habit, at times a shrub with many 

 stems in a clump (see plate, picture at right) or again a symmetrical 

 tree with a single trunk with many small limbs and fine branchlets 

 forming an oblong or rather wide-spreading round-topped head (see 

 plate). 



BARK — Essentially smooth, grayish-brown, older trunks with narrow 

 longitudinal fissures separating off shallow flat ridges which are some- 

 what scaly at base of trunk; younger trunks and branches smooth, often 

 characteristically streaked with darker longitudinal lines (see plate). 



TWIGS — Slender, grayish, olive-green to reddish-brown often covered 

 with a gray skin, generally smooth, with slight taste of bitter almonds. 

 LiENTICELS — scattered or numerous, pale, minute dots. PITH — 

 greenish with irregular edges. 



LiEAF-SCARS — Alternate, 2-ranked or at times appearing more than 

 2-ranked, a raised very narrow flattened V-shaped line swollen at the 

 bundle-scars, often with short somewhat decurrent ridges at outer 

 edges. STIPULE-SCARS — absent. BUNDLE-SCARS — 3, rather large. 



BUDS — Terminal buds present, long, narrow, 7-12 mm. long and 3-4 

 times as long as broad, narrowly ovate to conical, sharp-pointed, green- 

 ish-yellowish more or less tinged with reddish-purple, smooth or with 

 white silky hairs at apex and edges of scales, mostly appressed; lateral 

 buds on rapidly grown shoots normal, on slowly grown spurs, undevel- 

 oped or rudimentary; generally a small lateral bud just below terminal 

 bud. BUD-SCALES — increasing from below vipward, the two lowest 

 about Vs length of the bud, more or less keeled and 3-nerved, dark- 

 margined and with a single short dark spiny tip, lower scales often 3- 

 tipped, edges from slightly downy on outermost scales to densely silky- 

 hairy on inner scales; on terminal buds about 5 scales visible, more or 

 less imperfectly 2-ranked; lateral buds on vigorous shoots often with 

 pair of extra lateral scales basally united giving short-stalked appear- 

 ance to bud. 



FRUIT — Berry-like, sometimes if infected by a rust fungus remaining 

 dried on the tree through the winter. 



COMPARISONS — The long narrow buds of the Shad Bush bear a super- 

 ficial resemblance to those of the Beech. The Beech buds, however, are 

 divergent, narrower, with 10-20 scales regularly arranged in four 

 rows and have stipule-scars nearly encircling the twig. The Shad 

 Bush is subject to the attacks of a fungus [Dimerosporium ColUnsiU 

 which blackens the leaves and causes a profuse branching at the 

 point of infection. The "witches' brooms" thus formed with the 

 persistentent blackened leaves often enables the tree to be recognized at 

 a distance. It is probable that the Shad Bush, as here described in- 

 cludes a number of forms or distinct species. 



DISTRIBUTION — Dry, open woods, hillsides. Newfoundland and Nova 

 Scotia to Lake Superior; south to the Gulf of Mexico; west to Minne- 

 sota, Kansas, and Louisiana. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Throughout. 



WOOD — Heavy, exceedingly hard, strong, close-grained, dark brown 

 often tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood of 40-50 

 layers of annual growth; occasionally used for the handles of tools and 

 other small implements; under the name of "Lancewood" it is used in 

 the manufacture of fish rods. 



