438 



The Serviceberries 



prominent on the under side; the slender grooved leaf -stalks are 1.5 to 2.5 cm. 

 long. The flowers, opening when the leaves are about one fourth expanded, in 

 March or April to May, are in spreading or drooping racemes 7 to 10 cm. long, 

 on slender pedicels 1.5 to 3 cm. long; the bracts are purplish, silky, but fall away 

 before the flowers open. The calyx is bell-shaped, nearly smooth, with lanceolate 

 sharp-pointed lobes, one fourth to one half the length of the petals, which are 

 linear- spatulate or linear-oblong, 1.2 to 1.8 cm. long; the ovary is smooth at the 

 top, or nearly so. The fruit, ripening in June or July, is red-purple, with a bloom 

 when fully ripe, about 6 mm. in diameter, and sweet; seeds about 3 mm. long. 



The wood is hard, strong, close-grained, dark reddish brown, and satiny; its 

 specific gravity is about 0.78. It is sometimes used for tool-handles and portions 

 or machinery, as is the wood of many of the trees of the Apple family. 



2. SWAMP SERVICEBERRY — Amelanchier intermedia Spach 



Amelanchier Botryapium Hooker, not de Candolle. Amelanchier ohovalis Ashe 



Amelanchier canadensis ohovalis Michaux 



Also called Shad bush and Swamp sugar pear, this is a small tree or shrub, 

 inhabiting moist soil, occurring from New Brunswick to Manitoba, southward to 



Florida and Louisiana, reaching a maxi- 

 mum height of 9 meters, and a trunk diam- 

 eter of about 6 dm. 



The trunk is straight when grovmig 

 singly; often, however, several trunks as- 

 cend together from a common base. The 

 bark is about 6 mm. thick, grayish brown, 

 scaly or quite smooth, with few fissures or 

 none. The twigs are slender and hairy, 

 becoming smooth or nearly so, dark red- 

 dish brown. The leaves are oval, oblong, 

 eUiptic or obovate, 4 to 6 cm. long, or 

 those of young shoots laiger, pointed at 

 apex, narrowed, rounded or sUghtly heart- 

 shaped at the base, margined neariy to the 

 base by sharp teeth, densely white-woolly 

 when young, becoming smooth when old, 

 dull green above, pale beneath. The 

 flowers, opening before the leaves are fully expanded, in April or May, are in 

 short, often dense, white- woolly racemes 2.5 to 6 cm. long, on short hairy pedi- 

 cels I to 2 cm. long; the calyx-tube and its long lobes are densely white- woolly, the 

 lobes, one third to one half the length of the spatulate petals, which are 6 to 14 

 mm. long; the ovary is nearly smooth at the top. The fruit is globular, about & 



Fig. 384. — Swamp Servicebeny. 



