A sure sign of the advent of spring in Fort Valley is the blooming of the shadblow, an understory tree species with clusters of white flowers:
My wife and I took our son for a hike yesterday, and the shadblow was pretty much the only tree with anything on its branches:
I infer that shadblow is named for the fact that its flowers “blow” (bloom) when the shad swim upstream to spawn.
The shadblow goes by other names, too. Its scientific binomial is Amelanchier canadensis. One of the other colloquial names is “serviceberry,” so named (I’m told) because it signals that the ground has thawed – an important consideration if you had anyone die in your family over the winter. Now you can dig a grave and bury them, with a nice service.
Certainly it would serve as a glorious addition to any burial service. A variant on this name is influenced when the Appalachian hill country accent attempts “serviceberry:” Instead, the name emerges as “sarvisberry.”
Baxter wanted to smell one:
…Smells like spring’s here!
Speaking of the Shadblow, Have you read The Founding Fish by John Mc Phee?
Of course. I read everything that man writes.
“Saskatoon” in these parts. Yes, the city and a plethora of creeks, hills, lakes, etc. all over western Canada are named for them. There’s a small commercial growing industry for making pies, jams, etc. One source I’ve got says that it’s a corruption of “Misaskutum”, meaning “the tree with much wood”. Apparently the branches, being often straight, and pliable, were favoured for making arrows. I’m sorry to say it’ll be at least another month before we see any blossoms like yours!
Hi Callan, great photos! I’m writing from Fort Montgomery State Historic Site (Fort Montgomery, NY) where I work. I was wondering if it would be alright if I used one of your photos on our Facebook page. I would credit you of course. I want to do a post on the upcoming Shadbush bloom but I don’t have any photos that show the nice contrast of the white flower against the brown back drop of the woods – your photos are perfect! If you’d prefer I don’t use one of your photos I understand. If you’d like to check out our page just look up Fort Montgomery State Historic Site on Facebook. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Peter Cutul
Go for it! 🙂
It’s mid-April 2021 and the Serviceberries are in full bloom again in Fort Valley. I’ve been noticing these small trees for years but couldn’t identify them. This year my daughter took a photo and was able to track down this article. Thank you for your helpful and interesting information.
Patrick MacAuley