Amelanchier alnifolia

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Amelanchier alnifolia
Amelanchier alnifolia var. semiintegrifolia 4.jpg
Amelanchier alnifolia var. semiintegrifolia, Chelan County, Washington
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Amelanchier
Species:
A. alnifolia
Binomial name
Amelanchier alnifolia
(Nutt.) Nutt.
Amelanchier alnifolia range map 1.png
Natural range of Amelanchier alnifolia
Synonyms [2]
  • A. florida Lindl.
  • A. pumila (Torr. & A. Gray) Nutt. ex M. Roem.
  • Aronia alnifolia Nutt.

Amelanchier alnifolia, the saskatoon berry, Pacific serviceberry, western serviceberry, western shadbush, or western juneberry, [2] is a shrub native to North America. It is a member of the rose family, and bears an edible berry-like fruit.

Description

It is a deciduous shrub or small tree that most often grows to 1–8 metres (3–26 feet), [3] rarely to 10 m or 33 ft, [4] in height. Its growth form spans from suckering and forming colonies to clumped. [5] The leaves are oval to nearly circular, 2–5 centimetres (3⁄4–2 inches) long and 1–4.5 cm (1⁄2–1+3⁄4 in) broad, on a 0.5–2 cm (1⁄4–3⁄4 in) leaf stem, with margins toothed mostly above the middle. [5]

As with all species in the genus Amelanchier , the flowers are white, [6] with five quite separate petals and five sepals. In A. alnifolia, they are about 2.5–5 cm (1–2 in) across, with 20 stamens and five styles, [7] appearing on short racemes of 3–20, [5] somewhat crowded together, blooming from April to July. [7]

The fruit is a small purple pome 5–15 mm (3⁄16–19⁄32 in) in diameter, ripening in early summer. [5] [3] It has a waxy bloom. Saskatoon species can be relatively difficult to distinguish. [7]

Chemistry

Saskatoons have total polyphenol content of 452 milligrams per 100 grams (average of 'Smoky' and 'Northline' cultivars), flavonols (61 mg) and anthocyanins (178 mg), [8] although others have found the phenolic values to be either lower in the 'Smoky' cultivar [9] or higher. [10] Quercetin, cyanidin, delphinidin, pelargonidin, petunidin, peonidin, and malvidin were present in saskatoon berries. [8] [11]

Taxonomy

Varieties

The three varieties are: [3] [12]

Etymology

The name saskatoon derives from the Cree inanimate noun ᒥᓵᐢᐠᐘᑑᒥᓇmisâskwatômina (ᒥᓵᐢᐠᐘᑑᒥᐣmisâskwatôminNI sg, 'saskatoonberry', misâskwatôminaNI pl 'saskatoonberries'). [18]

The specific epithet alnifolia is a feminine adjective. It is a compound of the Latin word for "alder", alnus , and the word for "leaf", folium .

Historically, it was also called pigeon berry. [19]

Distribution and habitat

A. alnifolia var. semiintegrifolia shrub in flower, Skagit County, Washington Amelanchier alnifolia 6441.JPG
A. alnifolia var. semiintegrifolia shrub in flower, Skagit County, Washington

The plant can be found from Alaska across most of western Canada and in the western and north-central United States. [7] It grows from sea level in the north of the range, up to 2,600 m (8,530 ft) elevation in California and 3,400 m (11,200 ft) in the Rocky Mountains. [2] [5] [3] It is a common shrub in the forest understory, [20] as well as canyons. [7]

Ecology

A. alnifolia is susceptible to cedar-apple rust, Entomosporium leaf spot, fireblight, brown rot, Cytospora canker, powdery mildew, and blackleaf. [21] Problem insects include aphids, thrips, mites, bud moths, saskatoon sawflies, and pear slug sawflies. [21] It is also a larval host to the pale tiger swallowtail, two-tailed swallowtail, and the western tiger swallowtail. [22]

The foliage is browsed by deer, elk, rabbits, and livestock. [23] [24] The fruit are eaten by wildlife including birds, squirrels, and bears. [23]

Cultivation

Seedlings are planted with 4.0–6.1 m (13–20 ft) between rows and 0.46–0.91 m (1.5–3 ft) between plants. An individual bush may bear fruit 30 or more years. [25]

Saskatoons are adaptable to most soil types with exception of poorly drained or heavy clay soils lacking organic matter. Shallow soils should be avoided, especially if the water table is high or erratic. Winter hardiness is exceptional, but frost can damage blooms as late as May. Large amounts of sunshine are needed for fruit ripening. [25] [26]

Uses

With a sweet, nutty taste, the fruits have long been eaten by Indigenous peoples in Canada, fresh or dried. They are well known as an ingredient in pemmican, a preparation of dried meat to which saskatoon berries are added as flavour and preservative. They are used in saskatoon berry pie, jam, wines, cider, beers, and sugar-infused berries similar to dried cranberries used for cereals, trail mix, and snack foods. [8] [27] [28] [26]

In 2004, the British Food Standards Agency suspended saskatoon berries from retail sales [29] pending safety testing; the ban eventually was lifted after pressure from the European Union.[ citation needed ]

Nutrition

Nutrients in raw saskatoon berries [8]
NutrientValue per 100 g % Daily Value
Energy85 kcal
Total dietary fiber 5.9 g20%
Sugars, total11.4 g8%
Calcium 42 mg4%
Magnesium 24 mg6%
Iron1 mg12%
Manganese 1.4 mg70%
Potassium 162 mg3%
Sodium 0.5 mg0%
Vitamin C 3.6 mg4%
Vitamin A 11 IU1%
Vitamin E 1.1 mg7%
Folate 4.6 µg1%
Riboflavin 3.5 mg> 100%
Panthothenic acid 0.3 mg6%
Pyridoxine 0.03 mg2%
Biotin 20 µg67%

Saskatoon berries contain significant amounts of total dietary fiber, riboflavin and biotin, and the dietary minerals, iron and manganese, a nutrient profile similar to the content of blueberries. [8]

Culture

The city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is named after the berry; [18] the city is also home to a baseball team called the Saskatoon Berries. [30]

Related Research Articles

<i>Amelanchier</i> Genus of fruit trees

Amelanchier, also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry, juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum, wild-plum or chuckley pear, is a genus of about 20 species of deciduous-leaved shrubs and small trees in the rose family (Rosaceae).

<i>Amelanchier arborea</i> Species of tree

Amelanchier arborea, is native to eastern North America from the Gulf Coast north to Thunder Bay in Ontario and Lake St. John in Quebec, and west to Texas and Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malvidin</span> Chemical compound

Malvidin is an O-methylated anthocyanidin, the 3',5'-methoxy derivative of delphinidin. As a primary plant pigment, its glycosides are highly abundant in nature.

<i>Amelanchier canadensis</i> Species of tree

Amelanchier canadensis is a species of Amelanchier native to eastern North America in Canada from Newfoundland west to southern Ontario, and in the United States from Maine south to Alabama. It is largely restricted to wet sites, particularly on the Atlantic coastal plain, growing at altitudes from sea level up to 200 m.

<i>Rubus ursinus</i> Berry and plant

Rubus ursinus is a North American species of blackberry or dewberry, known by the common names California blackberry, California dewberry, Douglas berry, Pacific blackberry, Pacific dewberry and trailing blackberry.

<i>Amelanchier utahensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Amelanchier utahensis, the Utah serviceberry, is a shrub or small tree native to western North America. This serviceberry grows in varied habitats, from scrubby open slopes to woodlands and forests.

<i>Amelanchier asiatica</i> Species of flowering plant

Amelanchier asiatica, commonly known as Korean juneberry or Asian serviceberry, is a species in the genus Amelanchier, native to China, Japan, and Korea. It is a shrub or small tree, growing to about 12 metres (39 ft) tall.

<i>Amelanchier bartramiana</i> Species of flowering plant

Amelanchier bartramiana is a species of serviceberry. Common names include mountain serviceberry, mountain shadbush, Bartram's serviceberry, mountain juneberry, Bartram juneberry, and the oblongfruit serviceberry.

<i>Amelanchier <span style="font-style:normal;">×</span> lamarckii</i> Species of flowering plant

Amelanchier × lamarckii, also called juneberry, serviceberry or shadbush, is a large deciduous flowering shrub or small tree in the family Rosaceae.

<i>Amelanchier nantucketensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Amelanchier nantucketensis, also known as the Nantucket serviceberry or the Nantucket shadbush, produces edible fruit called pomes. Nantucket serviceberry is of conservation concern in the wild. Its distribution extends from Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard to Long Island and Staten Island. There are scattered occurrences in Maryland, Virginia, Maine, and Nova Scotia.

<i>Amelanchier sanguinea</i> Species of tree

Amelanchier sanguinea, known as red-twigged shadbush or roundleaf serviceberry, is a shrub native to eastern and central North America. Its native range stretches from New Brunswick to Saskatchewan south as far as northern Georgia. It is most common in eastern Canada, the northeastern United States, and the Great Lakes region.

<i>Amelanchier <span style="font-style:normal;">×</span> spicata</i> Species of flowering plant

Amelanchier × spicata, also referred to as the low juneberry, thicket shadbush, dwarf serviceberry, or low serviceberry, is a hybrid of Amelanchier alnifolia × Amelanchier humilis. that has edible fruit, which are really pomes. They can be eaten raw or cooked. Amelanchier × spicata has clusters of small white flowers that bloom in spring.

<i>Sambucus racemosa</i> Species of plant

Sambucus racemosa is a species of elderberry known by the common names red elderberry and red-berried elder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blueberry</span> Section of plants

Blueberry is a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plant with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section Cyanococcus within the genus Vaccinium. Vaccinium also includes cranberries, bilberries, huckleberries and Madeira blueberries. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) and cultivated (highbush)—are all native to North America. The highbush varieties were introduced into Europe during the 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maleae</span> Tribe of flowering plants

The Maleae are the apple tribe in the rose family, Rosaceae. The group includes a number of plants bearing commercially important fruits, such as apples and pears, while others are cultivated as ornamentals. Older taxonomies separated some of this group as tribe Crataegeae, as the Cydonia group, or some genera were placed in family Quillajaceae.

<i>Physocarpus malvaceus</i> Species of flowering plant

Physocarpus malvaceus is a species of flowering plant in the rose family known by the common name mallow ninebark. It is native to western North America.

Bird food plants are certain trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants bearing fruits which afford food for birds. These have been discovered by observation, and by the scientific examination of the contents of birds' stomachs. By planting those species, therefore, which have been proved most desirable and that are suited to the climate and soil of the chosen location, birds can be attracted to the vicinity of dwelling houses or to any other desired spot as a copse or shrubbery, or, on the other hand, lured away from valuable orchards, since they appear to like best arid, bitter, sour or aromatic fruits, distasteful to human beings, even better than the cultivated kinds.

<i>Amelanchier obovalis</i> Species of flowering plant

Amelanchier obovalis, the coastal serviceberry, coastal juneberry, or shadbush, is a species of flowering plant in the Rosaceae family. It is native to the Atlantic coastal plain of the United States, from New Jersey to Georgia, typically in pine barrens and other dry woodlands.

References

  1. ↑ Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) & IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group. (2018). "Amelanchier alnifolia". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 208. IUCN. e.T135957919A135957921. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T135957919A135957921.en . S2CID   242043939.
  2. 1 2 3 "Amelanchier alnifolia". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Amelanchier alnifolia". Jepson Flora. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2007.
  4. ↑ Jacobson, Arthur Lee (1996). North American Landscape Trees. Berkeley, CA USA: Ten Speed Press. p. 74. ISBN   0-89815-813-3. Records: 42' x 3'3" x 43', Beacon Rock State Park, WA (1993); 27' x 3'9" x 22', Douglas County, OR (1975)
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Amelanchier alnifolia". Plants of British Columbia. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2007.
  6. ↑ Taylor, Ronald J. (1994) [1992]. Sagebrush Country: A Wildflower Sanctuary (rev. ed.). Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Pub. Co. p. 126. ISBN   0-87842-280-3. OCLC   25708726.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Spellenberg, Richard (2001) [1979]. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region (rev ed.). Knopf. p. 723. ISBN   978-0-375-40233-3.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Mazza, G. (2005). "Compositional and Functional Properties of Saskatoon Berry and Blueberry". International Journal of Fruit Science. 5 (3): 101–120. doi: 10.1300/J492v05n03_10 . ISSN   1553-8362. S2CID   85691882.
  9. ↑ Ozga; Saeed, A; Wismer, W; Reinecke, DM (2007). "Characterization of cyanidin- and quercetin-derived flavonoids and other phenolics in mature saskatoon fruits (Amelanchier alnifolia Nutt.)". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 55 (25): 10414–24. doi:10.1021/jf072949b. PMID   17994693.
  10. ↑ Hosseinian; Beta, T (2007). "Saskatoon and wild blueberries have higher anthocyanin contents than other Manitoba berries". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 55 (26): 10832–8. doi:10.1021/jf072529m. PMID   18052240.
  11. ↑ Bakowska-barczak; Marianchuk, M; Kolodziejczyk, P (2007). "Survey of bioactive components in Western Canadian berries". Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology. 85 (11): 1139–52. doi:10.1139/y07-102. PMID   18066116.
  12. ↑ University of Maine: Amelanchier list of taxa Archived 22 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ "Amelanchier alnifolia var. alnifolia". University of Maine. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  14. ↑ Hickman, James C., ed. (1993). "Amelanchier alnifolia var. pumila". The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University and Jepson Herbaria. Archived from the original on 12 June 2007. Retrieved 19 October 2007.
  15. ↑ "Amelanchier alnifolia var. pumila". University of Maine. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  16. ↑ Hickman, James C., ed. (1993). "Amelanchier alnifolia var. semiintegrifolia". The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University and Jepson Herbaria. Archived from the original on 11 June 2007. Retrieved 19 October 2007.
  17. ↑ "Amelanchier alnifolia var. semiintegrifolia". University of Maine. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  18. 1 2 Adam Augustyn (2021). "Saskatoon". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  19. ↑ Schorger, A.W. 1955. The Passenger Pigeon; its natural history and extinction. The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.
  20. ↑ Dyrness, C. T.; Acker, S. A. (2010). "Ecology of Common Understory Plants in Northwestern Oregon and Southwestern Washington Forests" (PDF). H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, Oregon State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  21. 1 2 "Juneberries – Amelanchier alnifolia". Carrington REC. Archived from the original on 16 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  22. ↑ The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.
  23. 1 2 Little, Elbert L. (1994) [1980]. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Western Region (Chanticleer Press ed.). Knopf. pp. 443–44. ISBN   0394507614.
  24. ↑ Fagan, Damian (2019). Wildflowers of Oregon: A Field Guide to Over 400 Wildflowers, Trees, and Shrubs of the Coast, Cascades, and High Desert. Guilford, CT: FalconGuides. p. 80. ISBN   978-1-4930-3633-2. OCLC   1073035766.
  25. 1 2 "Introduction to Saskatoons". Archived from the original on 12 December 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
  26. 1 2 St-Pierre, R. G. "Growing Saskatoons – A Manual For Orchardists". Archived from the original on 17 March 2008. Retrieved 28 May 2006.
  27. ↑ Mazza, G; Davidson, CG (1993). "Saskatoon berry: A fruit crop for the prairies". In Janick, J.; Simon, J.E. (eds.). Archived copy. New crops. New York: Wiley. pp. 516–519. Archived from the original on 7 December 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2005.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  28. ↑ "Saskatoon Berries". Government of Manitoba – Ministry of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  29. ↑ "Britain plucks saskatoon berries from store shelves". CBC News. 7 July 2004. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  30. ↑ O'Connor, Liam (13 July 2023). "Saskatoon Berries chosen as name for new Western Canadian Baseball League team". CBC News. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
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