Thicket Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis)

A deciduous shrub or tree from the Rose Family (Rosaceae)

Thicket Serviceberry represents a number of large shrubs and small multitrunked trees within the genus Amelanchier that provide four-season appeal. In urban landscapes, its spring flowers, summer fruits, fall foliage, and winter zigzag twigs with light gray bark provide year-round interest.

In natural sites, early summer fruits are relished by birds and mammals, while the thick canopy is a frequent nesting site for small birds.

Thicket Serviceberry is native to eastern Canada and the coastal states of the eastern United States, where it forms thickets in moist to wet areas. Although Thicket Serviceberry is not native to Ohio, a closely related species, Downy Serviceberry, is native and is dispersed throughout most of the state, as are several other species and hybrids of Serviceberry. Thicket Serviceberry, when found in the open, may reach 20 feet tall by 15 feet wide and is strongly multitrunked.

Like all Serviceberries, it prefers partially sunny to partially shaded sites at the edges of fields and woodlands. As a member of the Rose Family, it is related to the Chokeberries, Hawthorns, Crabapples, Plums, Cherries, Pears, and Roses, as well as other Serviceberry species and hybrids.

Planting Requirements - Thicket Serviceberry prefers moist, acidic, rich soils, but adapts to dry soils of acidic, neutral, or alkaline pH. In urban areas, it is under more stress when sited in dry, clay, alkaline soils and does not take well to either air pollution or salts in the soil. It grows in full sun to partial shade (best performance in partially sunny sites), and is found in zones 3 to 7.

Potential Problems - Thicket Serviceberry, like all Serviceberries, has a host of diseases and pests which regularly plague members of the Rose Family, especially the leaves (rusts, spots, blights, mildews, etc.). However, Serviceberry trees and shrubs that are healthy and not under environmental stresses offer the best resistance against biological stresses.

Leaf Identification Features

Thicket Serviceberry has alternate, elliptical leaves that, because of their fairly small size, cast a dappled shade on the ground beneath this multitrunked shrub or small tree.

The bronzed to light green leaves of spring become medium to dark green in summer, then usually take on hues of yellow, orange, and/or brilliant red in autumn.

Other Identification Features

The floral buds of Thicket Serviceberry begin to swell in early spring, and have a fuzzy, silvery appearance for about two weeks before they open, usually in April.

The five-petaled white flowers only last for a very few days, often falling off quickly in a spring rain, as the vegetative buds begin to expand and release their new leaves.

It should not be surprising that most members of the Rose Family have fruits that resemble miniature apples, since Apples and Crabapples are in the same family.

Thicket Serviceberry has pendulous clusters of green and red fruits by mid-spring, and these ripen in June to the delight of birds, who greedily consume them.

In winter, the zigzag twigs of Thicket Serviceberry display their pointed, elliptical buds, the larger of which are usually terminal floral buds.

Also in winter, the mature bark of the several trunks is a smooth gray, sometimes lined with darker vertical striations (the bark of Allegheny Serviceberry is shown).