436 



The Serviceberries 



stout, hairy, 2.5 to 4 cm. long. The flowers are 15 mm. across, in short racemose 



leafy-based cymes, on slender, 

 .hairy, glandular or smooth pedi- 

 [cels; the calyx-tube is obconic, 

 smooth or nearly so, the lobes 

 are small, sharp-pointed, very 

 woolly on the iimer surface, de- 

 ciduous in fruit; the petals are 

 obovate to orbicular, irregularly 

 toothed or wavy margined; styles 

 smooth. The fruit ripens from 

 August to October, is obovoid- 

 oblong, about 8 to 10 mm. in 

 diameter, often twice as long, yel- 

 low to red ; the flesh is thin, dry, 

 pleasantly acidulous; the seeds 

 are relatively large. 



The fruit was an important 

 food for the Indians, who dried 

 it for winter use. The wood is hard, close-grained, satiny, and pinkish red; its 

 specific gravity is about 0.83 ; it is made into mallets and tool handles. The fruit 

 differs from tjrpical apples in not being sunken in at the base. Malus Macounii 

 Greene, of British Columbia, is, in our judgment, a form of this species. Malus 

 jusca (Rafinesque) Schneider, an older name, is not certainly applicable. 



Fig. 382. — Oregon Crab Apple. 



IV. THE SERVICEBERRIES 



GENUS AMELANCHIER MEDICUS 



[|BOUT 30 species of Amelanchier, all unarmed trees and shrubs, have 

 been described ; they abound in the temperate portions of the northern 

 hemisphere, being most abvmdant, as to species, in North America, 

 where, in addition to the arborescent kinds, about 17 species of shrubs 

 are reported, one of them occurring in the mountains of Mexico. 



The leaves are simple, entire, or variously toothed, stalked and stipulate. The 

 flowers are perfect, disposed in racemes or rarely solitary, appearing with the 

 leaves; the calyx-tube is bell-shaped, adnate to the ovary, its 5 lobes narrow, re- 

 flexed and persistent; the 5 petals are strap-shaped; the many stamens are inserted 

 with the white petals, in the throat of the calyx, filaments awl-shaped; the ovary 

 is inferior, its cavities becoming double the number of styles, of which there are 

 2 to 5; these are united and hairy at the base. The fruit is a small, berry-like 

 pome, with persistent remnants of calyx and stamens at the top, 4-to lo-celled, 

 each cell containing a small, erect cartilaginous coated seed. 



The fruits of most of these plants, which are also called June-berries, are edible, 



