// SPECIES PROFILE · TREE · NATIVE

Downy Serviceberry

Amelanchier arborea

Downy serviceberry is a small, multi-trunked native tree that opens the spring bloom calendar with frothy white five-petaled flowers, ripens edible blueberry-flavored juneberries by early summer, and finishes the year with apricot-red fall color. Premier woodland-edge species and an early nectar source for native bees.

// QUICK FACTS

Family: Rosaceae
Group: tree
Native range: E. North America incl. eastern OK woodlands
USDA hardiness: Zones 4–9
Mature size: 15–30 ft
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Adaptable · medium
Wildlife value: Songbirds devour fruit; supports 124+ Lepidoptera species
Ecological role: early spring bloom · juneberries · woodland edge

Downy Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) — *Amelanchier arborea*. Photo via Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons.

Field Notes

[ growing · ecology · siting · care ]

Why it's on this list: early spring bloom · juneberries · woodland edge. Part of Rooted Revival's NE Oklahoma plant catalog — natives, ecologically positive non-invasive cultivars, and food crops worth growing in the Tulsa region.

Companion Planting

[ guild · polyculture · cross-layer pairings ]

In a shaded woodland understory, downy serviceberry pairs naturally with: american beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), crossvine (Bignonia capreolata), american alumroot (Heuchera americana), inland sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus), and black cherry (Prunus serotina).

downy serviceberry works best as a canopy or sub-canopy partner above the herbaceous and shrub layers.

Photo Reference

// Amelanchier arborea — natural habitat
Photo: sbrobeson (iNaturalist, CC BY)

// Amelanchier arborea — flower & foliage
Photo: sbrobeson (iNaturalist, CC BY)

// Amelanchier arborea — habit
Photo: coreopsis906 (iNaturalist, CC BY-NC)

// Amelanchier arborea — field view
Photo: becca66710 (iNaturalist, CC BY-NC)