Description

Shrubs.  Stems 1--50, 0.5--1 m, suckering and forming loose colonies; twigs glabrous at flowering.  Leaves conduplicate in bud; 1/2 to mostly expanded, green, abaxially glabrous or sparsely hairy by flowering; petioles 1--25 mm; blades green abaxially, elliptic-oblong to oblong-obovate, 5--8 x 1.5--4.5 cm, membranous, bases rounded to subcordate, margins serrate to or nearly to base with (4--)6--10 teeth per cm, lateral veins 7--13 pairs, anastomosing and becoming indistinct near margins , apices subacute to rounded or mucronate, surfaces glabrous.  Inflorescences 3--10-flowered, spreading or drooping, 2--4 cm, only proximalmost pedicel subtended by leaf.  Pedicels glabrous, proximalmost 1.5--3.5 cm.  Flowers: hypanthia campanulate, +/- 5 mm diam.; sepals ascending or spreading after flowering , 3--5 mm, adaxially glabrous; petals white, oval to broadly oblanceolate, 8--15 x 3--6 mm, not andropetalous; stamens 20; styles 5; ovary summit rounded, densely hairy.  Pomes dark purple or almost black, 6--10 mm diam., sweet.

Flowering/Fuiting

Flowering Jun--Jul, fruiting Jul--Aug. 

Habitat

Ravines, thickets, barrens, rocky banks, shores, sea cliffs, swamps, wet woods, often calcareous; 0--100 m

Range

N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., P.E.I., Que.

Discussion

(see Systematics page for references cited)
      The rhizomatous habit, leaves that are glabrous upon expanding, and densely lanuginose ovary summit are a distinctive combination of characters for Amelanchier fernaldii.
      Relationships of A. fernaldii to other Amelanchier are unclear.  DNA sequences from the ITS region indicate that this species is a possible, later-generation hybrid involving a member of the western North American ITS clade (which includes A. humilis and A. sanguinea of eastern North America) and some eastern North American taxon (C. S. Campbell et al. 1997).