Smooth serviceberry

Leaves

Form

• Deciduous, alternate, simple
• Oval, abruptly tapered to a sharp tip
• Veins tend to be straight and parallel, about 10 per side
• Veins stop short of the teeth
• At flowering time, at least half-grown and hairless

Length

• 3–8 cm

Colour

• At flowering time, very distinctively coppery-red

Margin

• Teeth small, regular, sharp
• About 25 per side, mostly toothless toward the petiole

Petiole

• Slender

Buds

Form

• Narrowly ovoid
• Twisted, tapering to a point
• Pressed tightly against the twig
• About 5 scales
• Terminal bud much like the lateral buds
• Leaf scars with 3 large vein scars

Length

• 8–12 mm

Twigs

Form

• Slender
• Ridges extend down from either side of the leaf scar
• Pith 5-pointed
• A neoformed shoot usually develops from one or more leaf axils below a terminal flower cluster

Flowers

Form

• Showy; 5 petals
• In drooping clusters at the tips of new leafy shoots
• Insect-pollinated

Length

• Lower stalks longer than the upper ones
• Petals 10–17 mm

Colour

• White

Structure

• Synoecious

Floral timing

• Early in spring, before or with the leaves

Fruits

Form

• Berry-like, with 5–10 hard seeds
• Juicy, sweet

Length

• Lowermost fruit stalk about 25–45 mm

Width

• 6–10 mm

Colour

• Reddish or purplish

Timing

• Ripening in late July or early August

Seeds

Form

• Remain viable for some years at near-freezing temperatures
• Germinate after exposure to moist cool conditions

Seedlings

Form

• Cotyledons small, leafy
• Raised above the surface during germination

Bark

Form

• Smooth, conspicuously marked by a slightly twisted network of darker vertical lines
• Becoming rough and scaly with age

Colour

• Grey

Size

Height

• To 10 m

Diameter

• To 20 cm

Tree form

Forest-grown

Trunk

• Slender, very little taper

Crown

• Narrow, irregular

Habitat

Site

• Moist woodlands
• In the forest understory, at forest edges, on sand plains and rocky outcrops, and along fencerows

Range

In woodlands from Newfoundland to Lake Superior