Amelanchier ovalis
species of plant
Amelanchier ovalis, commonly known as snowy mespilus (a name which is also attached to the related A. lamarckii) or serviceberry, is a deciduous shrub in the family Rosaceae. Its pome fruits are edible and can be eaten raw or cooked. The species is native to central and southern Europe, as well as North Africa and the Middle East.
Description
There are 25 species of the genus Amelanchier reported from the northern hemisphere, and A. ovalis is the only naturally occurring species of that genus within Europe. A wide morphological variability has been reported for the flowers and leaves. There are two subspecies which can be distinguished by the number of chromosomes:
the diploid (2n=34) A. ovalis subsp. ovalis
the tetraploid (2n = 68) A. ovalis subsp. embergeri
Amelanchier ovalis is a thornless, summer-green shrub with an irregular spreading growth. It reaches heights of 3 m (9.8 ft), rarely 5 m (16 ft). The branches are slim and tightly erect in younger growing stages, becoming extended afterwards.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q159560. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Amelanchier ovalis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.