[Amelanchier humilis var. campestris E.L.Nielsen, moreAmelanchier humilis var. compacta E.L.Nielsen, Amelanchier humilis var. exserrata E.L.Nielsen, Amelanchier mucronata E. L. Nielsen, Amelanchier spicata (Lam.) C. Koch]
Shrub to 3 m tall Leaves: 2 - 5 cm long, 2 - 4 cm wide, elliptic to elliptic-oblong with a rounded to slightly pointed tip and a nearly heart-shaped or rounded base, toothed along upper two-thirds, with seven to thirteen vein pairs forking near the tip and ending in the teeth. At flowering, the leaves are expanding or fully expanded and covered with grayish white hairs. Flowers: borne in dense, upright, many-flowered inflorescences (racemes) 2 - 5 cm long, with silky hairy individual stalks to 1.3 cm long. Each flower is white and has a five-lobed calyx with margins rolling backward toward the lower surface (revolute) and five oblong to egg-shaped petals 7 - 10 mm long. Fruit: berry-like (pome), clustered, nearly black, spherical, juicy, covered with a whitish waxy coating (glaucous), containing ten seeds. Buds: 4 - 9 mm long, egg-shaped, dull or slightly shiny. Form: upright, colony-forming.
Similar species: Amelanchier sanguinea, Amelanchier humilis, and Amelanchier spicata are the three Amelanchier species in the Chicago Region under 3 m tall at maturity. Amelanchier sanguinea does not form colonies, has leaves that are half expanded at flowering, and flowers borne in loose drooping racemes with nearly hairless stalks. Amelanchier spicata has leaves that are one quarter to half expanded at flowering and leaf veins that interconnect near the margin.
Flowering: mid April to early May
Habitat and ecology: Rare in barren sandy fields, black oak savanas, and sandy soils.
Occurence in the Chicago region: native
Etymology: Amelanchier is the old French name of a species in this genus. Humilis means low-growing.
Stoloniferous colonial shrub 3-10(-15) dm; lvs a quarter to half-grown at anthesis and then densely tomentose beneath, at maturity glabrous and pale beneath, ovate to oblong, elliptic, or obovate-oblong, usually 2-5 cm, acute to obtuse or rounded, finely and sharply toothed, the lateral veins curved forward, branched and anastomosing near the margin, not definitely prolonged into the teeth, the teeth almost always more than twice as many as the veins; racemes short and dense; pedicels thinly pubescent, soon glabrescent, the lowest 7-15 mm; sep soon recurved or reflexed from near the middle; pet mostly 5-10 mm, half as wide; ovary tomentose at the summit; mostly polyploid. Dry woods, old fields, and rocky banks; Que. and Me. to Minn., s. to N.Y., Mich., Io., and in the mts. to N.C. May, June. (A. mucronata; A. stolonifera) Occasional plants of no. 8 [Amelanchier arborea (F. Michx.) Fernald] with the ovary ±tomentose on top will key here but are tall, non-colonial shrubs.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.