APPLE FAMILY 



Pistil. — Ovary inferior, its cavities twice as many as the 

 styles ; styles two to five, pubescent at base. 



Fruit \ — Pome, berry-like, one-fourth to three-eighths of an 

 inch in diameter, sweet, delicious. June, July. 



In northern woods the Amelanchiers are conspicuous in early spring 

 by the colors of their unfolding leaves ; in one form these are red, in an- 

 other silvery white, and their vernal beauty is increased by brilliant scarlet 

 bud-scales and bracts, and by the silky white hairs which clothe the young 

 growth. Of the delicate beauty of the flowers of this tree it is not necessary 

 to speak, for everyone who walks abroad in early spring knows the white 

 flowers of the Shadbush which in April and May enliven the banks of 



swamps and upland woods all over eastern America. 



— Garden and Forest. 



The homely name of Shadbush was given to the 

 Amelanchier group by the early inhabitants of our 

 eastern states, because thev flower at the time when 

 the shad begin to ascend the tidal rivers. 



The sixth edition of Gray's "Manual of Botany" 

 considers most of the northeastern June-berries as 

 varieties of Amelanchier canadensis ; but later botanists 

 are inclined to regard these varieties as species. How- 

 ever far the genus may be divided upon botanic dif- 

 ferences, to the popular mind a Shadbush is a Shad- 

 bush, for its white bloom appears among the mist of 

 opening buds and is unmistakable. Its message is 

 borne afar, — from rocky hillside over mountain valley 

 — that spring has come. To the birds, likewise, a 

 Shadbush is a Shadbush, for the family fruit has been 

 preempted by the birds for ages and feeble human ef- 

 forts to secure it have been outclassed from the first. 

 It seems quite unnecessary to descant upon the deli- 

 cacy of its flavor ; it is so antecedently improbable 

 that ordinary mortals should ever have an opportunity 

 to enjoy it. 



194 



