Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Amelanchier arborea
Introductory
SPECIES: Amelanchier arborea
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION:
Snyder, S. A. 1992. Amelanchier arborea. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/amearb/all.html [].
Revision: On 8 June 2018, infrataxa were added to the Taxonomy section of this review,
and images were added. The common name of Amelanchier arborea was changed in FEIS
from: downy serviceberry
to: common serviceberry.
ABBREVIATION:
AMEARB
SYNONYMS:
None
NRCS PLANT CODE [22]:
AMAR3
COMMON NAMES:
common serviceberry
downy serviceberry
Juneberry
shadbush
shadblow
sugarplum
TAXONOMY:
The scientific name for common serviceberry is Amelanchier arborea (Michx.)
Fern.( Rosaceae) [4]. There are 3 varieites [22]:
Amelanchier arborea var. alabamensis, Alabama serviceberry
Amelanchier arborea var. arborea, common serviceberry
Amelanchier arborea var. austromontana, downy serviceberry
Common serviceberry hybridizes with the following species [4]:
low serviceberry (Amelanchier humilis Wieg.)
Canada servicberry (Amelanchier canadensis (L.) Medic.)
oblongfruit serviceberry (Amelanchier bartramiana (Tausch) Roemer)
Hybridization is common and usually produces fertile offspring. Authors
differ in their treatment of the hybrids [20].
LIFE FORM:
Tree, Shrub
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS:
No special status
OTHER STATUS:
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Amelanchier arborea
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:
Common serviceberry occurs from the southern tip of Newfoundland south to
the northern tip of the Florida Panhandle and west to southern Ontario
and Quebec, eastern Kansas, the eastern edge of Nebraska, and southern
Mississippi and Alabama. North of Virginia, it is found along the
coast, but from Virginia south it occurs inland [14].
 |
| Distribution of common serviceberry. Map courtesy of USDA, NRCS. 2018. The PLANTS Database.
National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC [2018, June 8] [22]. |
ECOSYSTEMS:
FRES10 White - red - jack pine
FRES11 Spruce - fir
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES17 Elm - ash - cottonwood
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
FRES19 Aspen - birch
STATES:
AL AR CT DE FL GA IL IN IA KS
KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO NE
NH NJ NY NC OH OK PA RI SC TN
VT VA WV WI NB NF NS ON PE PQ
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:
K097 Southeastern spruce - fir forest
K098 Northern floodplain forest
K099 Maple - basswood forest
K100 Oak - hickory
K101 Elm - ash forest
K102 Beech - maple forest
K103 Mixed mesophytic forest
K104 Appalachian oak forest
K106 Northern hardwoods
K109 Transition between K104 and K106
K110 Northeastern oak - pine forest
K111 Oak - hickory - pine
K112 Southern mixed forest
SAF COVER TYPES:
1 Jack pine
16 Aspen
25 Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
26 Sugar maple - basswood
27 Sugar maple
28 Black cherry - maple
30 Red spruce - yellow birch
31 Red spruce - sugar maple - beech
34 Red spruce - Fraser fir
39 Black ash - American elm - red maple
42 Bur oak
52 White oak - black oak - northern red oak
53 White oak
55 Northern red oak
57 Yellow-poplar
59 Yellow-poplar - white oak - northern red oak
60 Beech - sugar maple
61 River birch - sycamore
62 Silver maple - American elm
64 Sassafras - persimmon
65 pin oak - sweet gum
75 Shortleaf pine
76 Shortleaf pine - oak
97 Atlantic white-cedar
108 Red maple
109 Hawthorn
110 Black oak
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:
NO-ENTRY
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Amelanchier arborea
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE:
In areas where common serviceberry grows big enough, it is used for
pulpwood [21].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE:
At least 40 bird species and several dozen mammal species eat the fruit
of the Amelanchier genus. Mammals that use common serviceberry include
squirrels, chipmunks, mice, voles, foxes, black bears, and elk [12,17].
PALATABILITY:
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE:
NO-ENTRY
COVER VALUE:
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES:
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES:
NO-ENTRY
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:
Common serviceberry is the preferred food of the gypsy moth (Lymantria
dispar) during its larval stages [6]. Common serviceberry has been known
to increase in number and density after defoliation from gypsy moths
[8].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Amelanchier arborea
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Common serviceberry is a tall, deciduous shrub or small tree, growing up
to 30 feet (9 m) or more [20]. Its trunk is about 16 inches (40 cm) in
diameter [4]. The maximum recorded height and diameter for downy
serviceberry is 70 feet (21 m) high and 2 feet (0.6 m) d.b.h. [14]. Its
branches are purplish when young but turn grey at maturity. Leaves are
alternate and simple with serrate margins. They are almost twice as
long as broad. Flowers are white, and the berrylike pomme fruit is dark
red to purple [20]. There are 4 to 10 seeds per fruit [1].
 |
|
 |
| Common serviceberry bark (left) and flowers (right). Photos courtesy of Paul Wray, Iowa State University, Bugwood.org, and John Ruter, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org, respectively. |
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM:
Phanerophyte
Hemicryptophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES:
Common serviceberry regenerates mainly by seed, but it also sprouts from
the root crown [14]. Seeds are dispersed by birds and mammals; bird
ingestion of seeds is an important scarification process [17]. Seeds
should be collected soon after ripening before animals eat them. Seeds
can be washed from the fruits by mashing them with water. There is an
average of 80,000 cleaned seeds per pound (176,000 kg). Seeds should be
dry stored at 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 deg C) in sealed containers.
Seeds can be sown in either fall or spring after 2 to 6 months of cold
stratification, but they will not usually germinate until after the
second spring [1].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS:
Common serviceberry grows on a variety of sites from swampy lowlands to
dry woods and sandy bluffs. It also grows on rocky ridges, forest
edges, and open woodlands and fields [20,23]. In the mixed hardwoods of
Appalachia, common serviceberry may compete better with other species in
stands on low quality sites [21].
Common serviceberry grows in red spruce (Picea rubens)-Fraser fir (Abies
fraseri) forests of the mountainous Southeast. Here it grows in
association with yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), mountain ash
(Sorbus americana), elderberry (Sambucus pubens), and hobblebush
(Viburnum alnifolium) at elevations between 4,950 and 6,600 feet
(1,500-2,000 m). Soils in these types are moderately drained
Inceptisols with a thick organic horizon and a low pH [2].
In the Midwest common serviceberry grows with boxelder (Acer negundo),
sugar maple (A. saccharum), white oak (Quercus alba), black ash
(Fraxinus nigra), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), shagbark hickory
(Carya ovata), and American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana). Soils here
are well-drained silty clay loam and poorly drained silt loams [13].
Some understory associates include lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium
angustifolium), penstemon (Penstemon canescens), raspberry (Rubus spp.),
greenbrier (Smilax spp.), and witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) [7,8].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS:
Common serviceberry is a late successional to climax species in
mixed-hardwood forests of the central United States [13].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT:
In the northern part of its range, common serviceberry flowers at the
same time its leaves emerge in April and May. Fruits are produced in
June and July [20]. In southern parts of its range, common serviceberry
flowers in March and produces fruit from June through August [1,4].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Amelanchier arborea
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS:
Common serviceberry can sprout from root crowns and stumps following fire
[19]. Some reestablishment from seed dispersed from off-site may also
occur.
FIRE REGIMES:
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY:
survivor species; on-site surviving root crown
off-site colonizer; seed carried by animals or water; postfire yr 1 & 2
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Amelanchier arborea
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT:
Fire top-kills common serviceberry [19].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT:
August burning of slash piles in the forest of lower Michigan killed
most of the common serviceberry on the site [19]. Stumps and roots
sprouted the following year, but much of common serviceberry found on the
site was established from seed dispersed by birds and mammals. Studies
in Pennsylvania showed contradictory results in the closely related
species, Amelanchier canadensis [9]. A. canadensis was not present on
burned sites until more than 15 years following fire but was prolific on
unburned sites.
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE:
Common serviceberry will recolonize sites following fire [18,19].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE:
Following wildfire in a spruce-fir forest of Appalachia, common
serviceberry was present in stands after 30 years, but was less than 1
percent of the total basal area. Specific effects of the fire on common
serviceberry were not studied [18]. For fire information on
a related species, see Amelanchier alnifolia.
The following Research Project Summaries provide information on prescribed
fire use and postfire response of plant community species, including common
serviceberry, that was not available when this species review was originally
written:
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:
NO-ENTRY
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Amelanchier arborea
REFERENCES:
1. Brinkman, K. A. 1974. Amelanchier Med. serviceberry. In: Schopmeyer, C.
S., technical coordinator. Seeds of woody plants in the United States.
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Forest Service: 212-215. [7516]
2. Busing, Richard T.; Clebsch, Edward E. C.; Eagar, Christopher C.;
Pauley, Eric F. 1988. Two decades of change in a Great Smoky Mountains
spruce-fir forest. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 115(1): 25-31.
[4491]
3. Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and
Canada. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters. 148 p. [905]
4. Fernald, Merritt Lyndon. 1950. Gray's manual of botany. [Corrections
supplied by R. C. Rollins]. Portland, OR: Dioscorides Press. 1632 p.
(Dudley, Theodore R., gen. ed.; Biosystematics, Floristic & Phylogeny
Series; vol. 2). [14935]
5. Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, Ardell J.; Duncan, Don A.; [and others].
1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range
ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p. [998]
6. Gottschalk, Kurt W. 1988. Gypsy moth and regenerating Appalachian
hardwood stands. In: Smith, H. Clay; Perkey, Arlyn W.; Kidd, William E.,
Jr., eds. Guidelines for regenerating Appalachian hardwood stands:
Workshop proceedings; 1988 May 24-26; Morgantown, WV. SAF Publ. 88-03.
Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Books: 241-254. [13950]
7. Hall, Christine N.; Kuss, Fred R. 1989. Vegetation alteration along
trails in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. Biological Conservation.
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8. Hix, David M.; Fosbroke, David E.; Hicks, Ray R., Jr.; Gottschalk, Kurt
W. 1991. Development of regeneration following gypsy moth defoliation of
Appalachian Plateau and Ridge & Valley hardwood stands. In: McCormick,
Larry H.; Gottschalk, Kurt W., eds. Proceedings, 8th central hardwood
forest conference; 1991 March 4-6; University Park, PA. Gen. Tech. Rep.
NE-148. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,
Northeastern Forest Experiment Station: 347-359. [15323]
9. Jordan, Marilyn J. 1975. Effects of zinc smelter emissions and fire on a
chestnut-oak woodland. Ecology. 56: 78-91. [3461]
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of the conterminous United States. Special Publication No. 36. New York:
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11. Lyon, L. Jack; Stickney, Peter F. 1976. Early vegetal succession
following large northern Rocky Mountain wildfires. In: Proceedings, Tall
Timbers fire ecology conference and Intermountain Fire Research Council
fire and land management symposium; 1974 October 8-10; Missoula, MT. No.
14. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station: 355-373. [1496]
12. Masters, Ronald E. 1991. Effects of fire and timber harvest on
vegetation and cervid use on oak-pine sites in Oklahoma Ouachita
Mountains. In: Nodvin, Stephen C.; Waldrop, Thomas A., eds. Fire and the
environment: ecological and cultural perspectives: Proceedings of an
international symposium; 1990 March 20-24; Knoxville, TN. Gen. Tech.
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in an old-growth, deciduous forest. Forest Ecology and Management.
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State College Press. 371 p. [1913]
15. Raunkiaer, C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant
geography. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 632 p. [2843]
16. Robinson, W. Ann. 1982. Experimental taxonomy in the genus Amelanchier.
II: Do the taxa in the genus Amelanchier form an agamic complex?.
Rhodora. 84: 85-99. [17998]
17. Robinson, W. Ann. 1986. Effect of fruit ingestion on Amelanchier seed
germination. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 113(2): 131-134.
[4552]
18. Saunders, Paul R.; Smathers, Garrett A.; Ramseur, George S. 1983.
Secondary succession of a spruce-fir burn in the Plott Balsam Mountains,
North Carolina. Castanea. 48(1): 41-47. [8658]
19. Scheiner, Samuel M.; Sharik, Terry L.; Roberts, Mark R.; Vande Kopple,
Robert. 1988. Tree density and modes of tree recruitment in a Michigan
pine-hardwood forest after clear-cutting and burning. Canadian
Field-Naturalist. 102(4): 634-638. [8718]
20. Soper, James H.; Heimburger, Margaret L. 1982. Shrubs of Ontario. Life
Sciences Misc. Publ. Toronto, ON: Royal Ontario Museum. 495 p. [12907]
21. Trimble, G. R., Jr. 1972. Reproduction 7 years after seed-tree harvest
cutting in Appalachian hardwoods. Res. Pap. NE-223. Upper Darby, PA:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest
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22. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. 2018. PLANTS Database, [Online].
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Available: https://plants.usda.gov/. [342622]
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(Saururaceae--Cornaceae). Bull. 59. Bloomfield Hills, MI: Cranbrook
Institute of Science; Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Herbarium.
724 p. [11472]
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in West Virginia. Res. Pap. NE-497. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of
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FEIS Home Page
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/amearb/all.html
