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Chuckly-Pears, Amelanchier spp.
Rosaceae

Height: Erect or straggling, much-branched shrubs up to 3 m high.

Twigs: Slender, brown to reddish, with a scaling whitish film and scattered lenticels. Pith is slightly 5-sided in cross-section.

Buds: Sharp-pointed and pressed against the twig. Terminal and lateral buds are prominent, terminal bud being slightly larger. Bud scales are shiny, green to red, mostly sharp-pointed, usually hairy-fringed.

Leaves: Alternate, elliptical, oval, oblong or ovate, rounded or somewhat heart-shaped at the base, mostly pointed at the tip, and usually less than 5 cm long. Margins are finely or coarsely toothed.

Flowers: White and showy, 2-3 cm across, borne in erect or drooping clusters. Five petals and about 20 stamens. Blooms from mid-May to late June before leaves are full grown.

Fruit: Reddish or dark purple berry-like pomes with five conspicuous calyx-lobes at the top. About 1 cm in diameter and edible, juicy and sweet. Ripen by late July or early August. Fruit sometimes quite plentiful but often infected by Cedar Apple Rust, a fungus disease.

Habitat: Clearings, borders of woods, thickets, swamps, along shores and stream banks.

Note: Difficult to identify, since species have minor individual difference and are often hybridized. Six species are recorded in Newfoundland, including Bartram’s Chuckley-pear, Fernald’s Chuckley-pear, Swamp Chuckley-pear, Smooth Chuckley-pear, Running Chuckley-pear, and Wiegand’s Chuckley-pear. The only one that is fairly distinctive is Bartram’s, with flowers and fruit solitary, or just a few together, with one being terminal and the others in the axils of the upper leaves. The other species have flowers and fruit arranged in distinct racemes.

Source: Native Trees and Shrubs of Newfoundland and Labrador
By A. Glen Ryan
Parks and Natural Areas Division
Department of Environment and Conservation
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador 1995
Used with permission.