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West Virginia Trees

Chapter 90: SHAD BUSH
By A. B. Brooks
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Nature/Gardening/Animals

About This Book

A practical field guide to the native and introduced trees of West Virginia, providing keys based mainly on leaves and fruits, concise family and species descriptions, and detailed line drawings for about 101 native species. It organizes trees by botanical families, gives brief flower notes, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for identifying specimens; occasional introduced species and shrubs are noted. The bulletin emphasizes simplicity for non-specialists, offers measurements and habit descriptions for each species, and includes administrative prefatory material. Its aim is to aid lay readers and students in tree identification and to encourage local interest in forestry.

SHAD BUSH

Amelanchier canadensis, (L.) Medic.

Form.—Height 10-40 feet, diameter 4-16 inches; trunk short; crown shallow and usually narrow, with numerous slender branches.

Leaves.—Alternate, simple, 3-4 inches long, ovate to ovate-oblong, finely serrate, smooth when old, dark green above, paler beneath.

Flowers.—April; perfect, white, borne in drooping racemes.

Fruit.—June-August; a berry-like, globular pome, one-third-½ inch long, borne in racemes, red to purple, sweet and edible.

Bark.—Smooth, or somewhat rough, with narrow scaly ridges on old trees.

Wood.—Heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, warps and checks easily, dark reddish-brown with thick whitish sapwood.

Range.—Newfoundland and Ontario, south to Florida and west to Louisiana and Kansas.

Distribution in West Virginia.—Common in nearly all parts of the State.

Habitat.—Dry, light soils of upland woods and hillsides. Grows in a variety of soils and exposures.

Notes.—Service tree and Juneberry are two other names of this tree. The wood is rarely used for any purpose.

At least two shrubby species of Amelanchier are native to West Virginia.