Amelanchier laevis
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Amelanchier laevis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Genus
Synonyms
- A. canadensis of many authors, not Mespilus canadensis L.
Infraspecifics
A large shrub or small tree closely allied to A. arborea (q.v.) and, like that species, known erroneously as “A. canadensis” which name belongs properly to the species described in previous editions under the name A. oblongifolia. It is quite distinct from A. arborea by reason of the bronzy purple colour of the unfolding leaves and by their being almost or quite devoid of down almost from the beginning. In A. arborea both sides of the unfolding leaves are covered with white down. The fruit of A. laevis is black and sweet, that of A. arborea dry and tasteless. Other points of distinction are that in A. laevis the raceme is more lax, with the lower pedicels up to 2 in. long, and that the flowers are borne when the leaves are about half-grown.
A. laevis is found wild in the mountains of most of the eastern United States and extends into Canada as far as Newfoundland, where, however, it is reduced to shrubby dimensions. The comments on the garden value of A. arborea are equally applicable to this species, which is, however, considered to be the finer of the two, by reason of the bronzy colouring of the unfolding leaves and the more graceful racemes. It is a little later to flower.