Early springtime drives on an otherwise dull and monotonous four-lane highway can be transformed into wondrous trips by hillsides covered with splashes of white serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) flowers. Within a week or two, the clusters are accentuated and highlighted by the rich purple blossoms covering nearly every inch of neighboring redbud trees.
Some people may say that, strictly speaking, trees and shrubs should not be included in a guide to wildflowers.
However, trees are not a group of plants related to each other, but rather to other types of plants. Serviceberry, apple, cherry and hawthorn trees are roses, and redbud and black locust are members of the pea family, which also includes goat’s rue. Further examples are the tulip trees and magnolias, which are related to buttercups and anemones. Hackberry and the elms’ links are to nettles and marijuana, while the buckeyes, hollies and maples are closely related to spotted jewelweed and poison ivy.
The Serviceberry tree is a thing of beauty throughout the year. The emerging leaves are a silvery green coated with fine silky hairs. After the flower petals have fallen away, the leaves lose the hairs and turn a full green, which helps highlight the reddish-purple berries that provide nourishment for birds, deer, bears, raccoons and other wildlife in late summer. As temperatures cool, the foliage adds its own hues of gold and reddish-orange to the forest, while the light gray bark shines in the rays of a winter sun.
Other names for Serviceberry are Sarvisberry, Shadbush, Juneberry and Shadblow.
Flower Fast Facts
FLOWER: The one inch wide flowers grow in terminal clusters. Usually appearing on the plant before the leaves do, each star-shaped blossom has five narrow, nearly-pure white petals.
LEAVES AND STEM: The elliptical leaves are two to four inches long and somewhere between one to two inches wide. They are finely toothed, a silvery green above and a bit paler underneath.
BLOOM SEASON: April to May
About This Series
“Mountain Wildflowers” features a wildflower from the Blue Ridge region each month from March to October. Leonard M. Adkins has written for Blue Ridge Country for more than two decades and is the author of 20 books about travel, hiking and nature. His Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail, which received the prestigious National Outdoor Book Award, provides the photographs and some of the information he writes about in each “Mountain Wildflowers.” It and his other works may be obtained through his website.
