Wild Flowers: An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their Insect VisitorsBlanchan, Neltje
Science
Wild Flowers: An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their Insect Visitors
Blanchan, Neltje
Wild flowers -- North America
Flowers - White or magenta tinged, 1/2 in. across or less, in
terminal, compound cymes, finally overtopped by young sterile
shoots. Calyx 5-lobed, hairy; 5 concave, spreading petals;
stamens numerous; 3 to 5 styles united at base; ovary woolly.
Stem: Shrubby, branching, usually low, rarely 12 ft. high.
Leaves: Alternate, petioled, oval to oblong, finely cut-edged,
smooth above, matted with woolly hairs underneath. Fruit: Small,
round or top-shaped, bright red berries.
Preferred Habitat - Swamps, low ground, wet thickets.
Flowering Season - March-May.
Distribution - Nova Scotia to Gulf of Mexico, westward to the
Mississippi.
Another common species often found in the same haunts, the BLACK
CHOKE-BERRY (A. nigra), with similar flowers, the berries very
dark purple, was formerly confounded with the red choke-berry.
But because it sometimes elects to live in dry ground its leaves
require no woolly mat on the underside to absorb vapors arising
from wet retreats. No wonder that the insipid little berries.
related to apples, pears, and other luscious fruits, should share
with a cousin, the mountain ash, or rowan, the reproachful name
of dogberry.
JUNEBERRY; SERVICEBERRY; MAY-CHERRY
(Amelanchier Canadensis) Apple family
Flowers - Pure white, over 1 in. across, on long, slender
pedicels, in spreading or drooping racemes, with silky, reddish
bracts, early falling, among them. Calyx persistent, 5-parted; 5
long, narrow, tapering petals, 3 or 4 times the length of calyx;
numerous stamens inserted on calyx throat; 2 to 5 styles, hairy
at base. Stem: A large shrub or tree, usually much less than 25
ft. high, rarely twice that height, wood very hard and heavy.
Leaves: Alternate, oval, tapering at tip, finely saw-edged,
smooth (like the pear tree's), often hairy when young. Fruit.
Round, crimson, sweet, edible, seedy berries, ripe in June and
July.
Preferred Habitat - Woodland borders, pasture thickets, dry soil.
Flowering Season - March-May.
Distribution - Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico, westward over
a thousand miles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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