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Shrubs or small trees. Stems 1--10, 2--7 m, solitary or in small clumps, fastigiate; twigs glabrous at flowering. Leaves conduplicate in bud; half-expanded or more and unfolding, often reddish, abaxially sparsely hairy or glabrescent by flowering; petioles 10--15 mm; blades abaxially green, elliptic to slightly obovate, 2.5--6 x 1.8--3 cm, firm, bases subcordate or rounded, margins serrate nearly to or to base with 5--7 teeth per cm, lateral veins 7--11 pairs, anastomosing and becoming indistinct near margins , apices acute to short-acuminate, surfaces glabrous. Inflorescences 4--9-flowered, erect, 2--5 cm, only proximalmost 1--2 pedicels subtended by leaf. Pedicels glabrous or sparsely hairy, proximalmost 1--1.5 cm. Flowers: hypanthia campanulate, 3 mm diam.; sepals ascending to recurving after flowering , 2--3.5 mm, adaxially glabrous or slightly hairy; petals white, oblong, 9--12 x 3--6 mm, not andropetalous; stamens 20; styles 5; ovary summits rounded, glabrous (sometimes hairy in westernmost part of distribution). Pomes dark purple, 7--12 mm diam., sweet. 2n = 68.

N.B., Nfld. & Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que.; Mich., Minn., N.H., N.Y., N.C., Vt., Va.

(see Systematics page for references cited)
      Amelanchier intermedia is morphologically closest to A. canadensis; both species are adapted to hydric soils. G. N. Jones (1946) considered A. intermedia to be a synonym of A. canadensis, but A. intermedia differs from A. canadensis in having leaves that are reddish, less hairy, and more developed by flowering, subglabrous flowering pedicels and sepals, and longer pedicels and petals. Amelanchier intermedia ranges much farther west than A. canadensis.
      Amelanchier intermedia hybridizes with A. bartramiana, A. humilis, and A. spicata (L. Cinq-Mars 1971). P. Landry (1975) considered A. intermedia to be the hybrid of A. arborea (including A. laevis) and A. canadensis. In a study of morphologic variation involving A. canadensis, A. intermedia, A. laevis, and several other species of Amelanchier, A. C. Dibble et al. (1998) found that the only two species that overlapped were A. intermedia and A. laevis, and their data did not support a hybrid derivation of A. intermedia from A. canadensis and A. laevis.
      A. C. Dibble et al. (1998) reported that two individuals of Amelanchier intermedia, both of which were tetraploids, are apomictic.