Amelanchier interior
Amelanchier alnifolia
amélanchier de l'intérieur, inland serviceberry, Wiegand's shadbush
alder-leaf shadbush, amélanchier à feuilles d'aulne, saskatoon, saskatoon berry, saskatoon serviceberry, service berry, western serviceberry
not fully unfolded;
petiole 10–30 mm;
blade broadly ovate to elliptic, 30–70 × 20–50 mm, base rounded to subcordate, each margin with 3–15 teeth on proximal 1/2 and (2–)4 or 5(–7) teeth in distalmost cm, largest teeth less than 1 mm, apex short acuminate to apiculate, abaxial surface glabrous or sparsely hairy by flowering, surfaces glabrous later.
mostly unfolded;
petiole (3–)6.8–19.1(–28) mm;
blade usually elliptic to oval to suborbiculate, sometimes quadrangular, (14–)24–47(–67) × (7–)17–36(–55) mm, base usually subcordate to truncate, sometimes ± tapering or ± cuneate, each margin with 0–3(–9) teeth on proximal 1/2 and (0–)3–5(–8) teeth in distalmost cm, largest teeth more than 1 mm, apex rounded to truncate or occasionally acute or mucronate, abaxial surface sparsely to densely hairy (or glabrous) by flowering, sparsely to moderately hairy (or glabrous) later, adaxial glabrous or sparsely (moderately) hairy later.
4–12-flowered, 30–75 mm.
(4–)6–11(–16)-flowered, (8–)14–43(–62) mm.
1 or 2 subtended by a leaf, proximalmost 10–45 mm.
(0 or)1 or 2(or 3) subtended by a leaf, proximalmost (2–)3–20(–29) mm.
sepals recurved after flowering, 2–5 mm;
petals obovate, 6–15 × 4–5 mm;
stamens 20;
styles 5, 3–5 mm;
ovary apex densely (moderately) hairy (or glabrous).
sepals erect to recurved after flowering, (1.4–)2.2–4(–4.9) mm;
petals oblanceolate to oval or obovate to elliptic, (5.7–)9.5–14(–18.8) × (2.2–)3.3–5.2(–6.6) mm;
stamens (10–)15–21(–22);
styles (3 or)4 or 5(or 6), (1.3–)2–2.9(–3.9) mm;
ovary apex moderately to densely hairy (or glabrous).
purple-black, 6–8 mm diam. 2n = 4x.
black or purple, 8–15 mm diam.
Amelanchier interior
Amelanchier alnifolia
Amelanchier interior is distinguished by its capacity to grow into a tree to ten meters and by having sparsely hairy young leaves that are often reddish and densely hairy ovary apices. E. L. Nielsen (1939) differentiated A. interior and A. wiegandii on the basis of leaves being carinate in A. wiegandii as opposed to flat in A. interior, and leaf sinuses rounded versus acute. G. N. Jones (1946) considered those differences to be slight, and he included A. wiegandii in A. interior. The authors follow Jones, but retain the common name Wiegand’s shadbush to commemorate Wiegand’s early insights about the taxonomy of Amelanchier. M. L. Fernald (1950) considered A. wiegandii as suggesting a small-leaved A. laevis but with shorter buds, fewer teeth, fewer veins, and summit of ovary heavily tomentose. P. Landry (1975) thought A. wiegandii to be the hybrid of A. arborea and A. sanguinea, and E. G. Voss (1972–1996, vol. 2) reasoned that A. interior is a hybrid swarm involving A. laevis (or sometimes A. arborea) and plants of the A. spicata and/or A. sanguinea complex. A hybrid origin of A. interior from A. laevis and A. sanguinea is reasonable given that stem height, the number of leaf teeth, and petal length are more or less intermediate between those two species. DNA sequences from ITS region indicate that A. interior (A. wiegandii) is a possible later-generation hybrid involving a member of the western North American ITS clade (which also includes A. humilis and A. sanguinea of eastern North America) and some eastern North American taxon (C. S. Campbell et al. 1997). Multiple hybrid origins, possibly from different species, may explain the variability of A. interior. Amelanchier interior has unusually large ranges of lengths for proximal pedicels, sepals, and petals. The leaves of A. wiegandii were described by Nielsen as bronze at flowering; Jones described the leaves of A. interior as green when young. The authors assume that A. interior as they interpret it is polymorphic for the color of young leaves.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).
Amelanchier alnifolia is widespread and polymorphic, and its taxonomic and geographic limits have been viewed differently. L. Cinq-Mars (1971) considered this species to range eastward to the Gaspé Peninsula. Disagreements about the boundary between A. alnifolia and A. humilis are evident in herbarium specimen annotations. The distinctness of the varieties of A. alnifolia has also been questioned. G. N. Jones (1946) treated the three varieties recognized here as distinct species and noted that the leaves of var. alnifolia and var. semiintegrifolia (A. florida) are virtually indistinguishable, and, although petal lengths of the two do not overlap, occasional larger-flowered var. alnifolia and occasional smaller-flowered var. semiintegrifolia occur, so the petal length distinction is not an absolute one. Geographically these two varieties are largely separate, with var. alnifolia occurring in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains and var. semiintegrifolia on the Pacific slopes of mountains from Alaska to northern California.
Amelanchier alnifolia is thought to hybridize with Sorbus scopulina (x\Amelasorbus jackii Rehder).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Ovary apices glabrous (or sparsely hairy); shrubs 1–2(–4) m. | var. pumila |
1. Ovary apices moderately to densely hairy (or glabrous); shrubs or trees, 1–12 m | → 2 |
2. Inflorescences (8–)26–43(–62) mm; proximalmost pedicels (5–)8–16(–29) mm. | var. alnifolia |
2. Inflorescences (8–)14–26(–35) mm; proximalmost pedicels (2 or)3–8(–13) mm. | var. semiintegrifolia |
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