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Serviceberry (Amelanchier), also known as juneberry, mespilus and shadbush, is a genus if about 25 species of deciduous small trees and large shrubs in the Rosaceae. The genus has a wide distribution in the temperate northern hemisphere, with the majority of the species in North America, and single species in Europe and Asia.
The leaves are alternate, entire or finely serrate, oval, 2-10 cm long and 1-4 cm broad, green, often turning brilliant orange or red in the fall. The flowers are white, 2-4 cm diameter, with five petals, and borne in terminal racemes of 5-25. The fruitIn botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant. In cuisine, when discussing fruit as food, the term usually refers to just those plant fruits that are sweet and fleshy, examples of which would be plum, apple, and or is a small pomeIn botany, a pome (after the French name for an apple, pomme is a type of fruit, produced by flowering plants in the subfamily Maloideae of the family Rosaceae. A pome is an accessory fruit composed of five or more carpels in which the exocarp forms an in 1-2 cm diameter, blue-black, edible and often sweet, maturing in summer (whence the name 'juneberry').
1 Species
- Amelanchier alnifolia - JuneberryThe Juneberry Amelanchier alnifolia is a serviceberry found in western North America. Large numbers of small white flowers appear in spring. The small purple berries, actually pomes, ripen in June and July. This large perennial shrub may grow up to 5 mete
- Amelanchier arborea
- Amelanchier asiatica - Asian Serviceberry
- Amelanchier bartramiana
- Amelanchier basalticola
- Amelanchier canadensis
- Amelanchier confusa
- Amelanchier florida
- Amelanchier humilis
- Amelanchier laevis - Allegheny Serviceberry
- Amelanchier lamarckii
- Amelanchier ovalis - European Serviceberry, Snowy Mespilus
- Amelanchier sanguinea
- Amelanchier spicata
- Amelanchier stolonifera
- Amelanchier utahensis - Utah Serviceberry
2 Uses
The fruit of several species are excellent to eat raw, though their popularity with birds makes harvesting difficult. Serviceberries are also very popular ornamental shrubs, grown for their flowers and fall colour.
Rosaceae
