Shadbush June-berry


=Habitat and Range.=--Dry, open woods, hillsides.



Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to Lake Superior.



New England,--throughout.



South to the Gulf of Mexico; west to Minnesota, Kansas, and

Louisiana.



=Habit.=--Shrub or small tree, 10-25 feet high, with a trunk diameter of

6-10 inches, reaching sometimes a height of 40 feet and trunk diameter

f 18 inches; head rather wide-spreading, slender-branched, open;

conspicuous in early spring, while other trees are yet naked, by its

profuse display of loose spreading clusters of white flowers, and the

delicate tints of the silky opening foliage.



=Bark.=--Trunk and large branches greenish-gray, smooth; branchlets

purplish-brown, smooth.



=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, oblong-conical, pointed. Leaves

2-3-1/2 inches long, about half as wide, slightly pubescent when young,

dark bluish-green above at maturity, lighter beneath; outline varying

from ovate to obovate, finely and sharply serrate; apex pointed or

mucronate, often abruptly so; base somewhat heart-shaped or rounded;

leafstalk about 1 inch long; stipules slender, silky, ciliate, soon

falling.



=Inflorescence.=--April to May. Appearing with the leaves at the end of

the branchlets in long, loose, spreading or drooping, nearly glabrous

racemes; flowers large; calyx 5-cleft, campanulate, pubescent to nearly

glabrous; segments lanceolate, acute, reflexed; petals 5, whole,

narrow-oblong or oblong-spatulate, about 1 inch long, two to three times

the length of the calyx; stamens numerous: ovary with style deeply

5-parted.



=Fruit.=--June to July. In drooping racemes, globose, passing through

various colors to reddish, purplish, or black purple, long-stemmed,

sweet and edible without decided flavor.



=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows in all soils

and situations except in wet lands, but prefers deep, rich, moist loam;

very irregular in its habit of growth, sometimes forming a shrub, at

other times a slender, unsymmetrical tree, and again a symmetrical tree

with well-defined trunk. Its beautiful flowers, clean growth, attractive

fruit and autumn foliage make it a desirable plant in landscape

plantations where it can be grouped with other trees. Occasionally in

nurseries; procurable from collectors.






1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch.

3. Flower with part of perianth and stamens removed.

4. Fruiting branch.



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