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| ## saskatoon {#saskatoon .Title-Header}                               |
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| *Amelanchier alnifolia* (Nutt.) Nutt. ex Roemer                       |
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| Plant Symbol = AMAL2                                                  |
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####### *Contributed By: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & the Biota of North America Program*

## Alternate common names

Saskatoon service-berry, service-berry, juneberry, shadbush

## Uses

Saskatoon is planted as an ornamental and to produce commercial fruit
crops. Many cultivars are commercially available, selected for desirable
plant and/or fruit characteristics. Much research and literature details
the development of cultivars and cultivation techniques.

The fruits are used in pies, jams, and fruit rolls and for making jelly
and syrup. Saskatoon wine is a regional specialty. Native Americans ate
the berries fresh and dried, often mixed with other foods for sweetening
and flavor. Dried and rehydrated berries were added to dried vegetables
and cooked into soups and puddings.

Native Americans boiled branches to make a tea for treating colds. A
drink was made from the bark for stomach problems. Bark and twigs
provided a medicine for recovery after childbirth. In

combination with other plants, it was used to make a contraceptive. The
strong and straight-grained wood was used to make arrows, digging
sticks, spear shafts, tool handles, and seed beaters. Young branches
were twisted into a type of rope.

Saskatoon is attractive as an ornamental shrub or may be trimmed as a
hedge. It is an important species for reclamation, wildlife, watershed,
and shelterbelt plantings. It can be started from seed or vegetative
cuttings.

## Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as, state noxious status
and wetland indicator values.

## Description

*General*: Rose Family (Rosaceae). Native shrubs or small trees growing
to 7 meters high, variable in growth form, forming thickets, mats, or
clumps, the underground portions including a massive root crown,
horizontal and vertical rhizomes, and an extensive root system; bark:
thin, light brown and tinged with red, smooth or shallowly fissured.
Leaves are deciduous, simple, alternate, ovate to nearly round, 2.5-3 cm
long, with lateral, parallel veins in 8-13 pairs, the margins coarsely
serrate or dentate to below middle or sometimes entire or with only a
few small teeth at the top. Flowers are in short, dense, 5-15-flowered,
upright racemes, the petals white, 1-2 cm long and strap-like, sepals
more or less long-hairy on the inside, reflexing in age, stamens about
20, styles 5, ovary persistently tomentose at the top. Fruit are 6-11 mm
long, smooth, purple-black, slightly gray-blue waxy, the pulp fleshy and
sweet; seeds 4-10. The common name refers to the city in Saskatchewan,
Canada, in the heart of the species' range.

*Variation within the species*: Considerable variation is recognized.
Var. *alnifolia* occurs over the whole range of the species, except for
California, where only var. *semiintegrifolia* is found. Other varieties
include the following: var. *cusickii* (Fern.) C.L. Hitchc. and var.
*humptulipensis* (G.N. Jones) C.L. Hitchc.

## Distribution 

Saskatoon is distributed along the Pacific coast from Alaska to
California, eastward to Utah, Colorado, Iowa, and Minnesota, and Ontario
and Quebec, north through the plains and prairies into the Northwest
Territories (Keewatin and Mackenzie) of Canada. For current
distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on
the PLANTS Web site.

## Adaptation 

Saskatoon is common in lower-elevation coniferous forests but grows
sporadically up to timberline. It also occurs in montane chaparral,
mountain shrub, and the upper limits of pinyon-juniper communities. In
grasslands, it mostly occurs in wooded draws, woodland interfaces, and
riparian zones. It occurs in open to lightly shaded disturbed sites such
as thickets, fencerows, clearings, and edges of woods, and it is
conspicuous after disturbances such as fire, logging, or insect
outbreak. Found at elevations of 50-3000 meters; flowering April-June;
and fruiting (June-)July-August.

## Establishment

Saskatoon reproduces from seed but more commonly by sprouting from the
root crown and rhizomes and by layering. Seedlings can take up to 5
years before they start to produce fruit, but other starts may begin at
2-4 years old and with proper management can yield 8-10 tons of fruit
per hectare. Flowers are produced almost every year, but good seed crops
may be produced only every 3-5 years because of drought, spring frost,
and/or juniper rust. Seeds require cold stratification to break dormancy
and may remain viable for 10 or more years. Natural dispersal is by
birds and mammals. One individual of saskatoon is known to have reached
85 years but the average age apparently may be closer to 20 years.

## Management

Saskatoon in forests is fire-dependent, occurring in forests with fire
regimes varying from frequent, low-severity fire (low-elevation forests)
to infrequent, severe fire. It may persist in the understory for decades
but eventually dies out with fire exclusion and canopy closure. After
top-kill by light- to moderate-severity fire, saskatoon sprouts usually
arise from the root crown or from shallowly buried rhizomes; sprouts
arise from deeply buried rhizomes after even the most intense fire.
Sasktoon cover and biomass production in western Montana may generally
increase after fires in Douglas-fir/ninebark habitats, but browsing
pressure from big game may slow the recovery. Seed production may resume
soon after fire.

## Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

Saskatoon has been artificially crossed with other species of
serviceberry, and similar hybridization and intergradation also occurs
in the field, particularly between saskatoon and low serviceberry
(*Amelanchier humilis* Wieg.). Cultivars sold as *Amelanchier alnifolia*
may actually be hybrids between *A. alnifolia* and other species of
*Amelanchier*. *Amelasorbus jackii* is a hybrid of saskatoon and Cascade
Mountain-ash (*Sorbus scopulina*.

## References

Bishop, B.H. & S.H. Nelson 1980. *Propagation and transplanting of
saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia Nutt.) softwood cuttings*. Canad. J.
Pl. Sci. 60:883-890.

Davidson, J.G.N. & R.G. St.-Pierre 1994. *Saskatoons*. HortScience
29(9):959-960.

Howard, J.L. 1997. *Amelanchier alnifolia*. IN: D.G. Simmerman
(compiler). *The fire effects information system* \[Database\]. USDA,
Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire
Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, Montana.
\<http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/\>

Jones, G.N. 1946. *American species of* *Amelanchier*. Illinois Biol.
Monogr. 20(2):1-128.

Laughlin, K.M., R.C. Smith, & .G. Askew 1996. *Juneberry for commercial
and home use on the northern Great Plains*. Publ. H-938, North Dakota
State University Extension Service, Fargo, North Dakota.

\<http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/plantsci/hortcrop/h938w.htm\>

Mazza, G. & .G. Davidson 1993. *Saskatoon berry: A fruit crop for the
prairies*. Pp. 516-519, IN: J. Janick and J.E. Simon (eds.), *New
crops*. Wiley, New York, New York.

\<http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1993/V2-516.html\>

St-Pierre, R.G. 1992. *The development of native fruit species as
horticultural crops in Saskatchewan*. HortScience 27(8):866, 947.

St.-Pierre, R.G. 1997. *Growing Saskatoons - A manual for orchardists*.
Completely rewritten Fifth Edition. Dept. of Horticulture Science,
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

St.-Pierre, R.G. 1997. *Saskatoon*. Pp. 666-668 IN: *The Brooks and Olmo
register of fruit & nut varieties*. Third Edition. ASHS Press,
Alexandria, Virginia.

The Native Fruit Development Program 2000. *Registry of the genus
Amelanchier: History & botany, cultivar overview, publications, plant &
seed suppliers*. Dept. of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan,
Canada.
\<http://www.ag.usask.ca/departments/plsc/nfdp/amelanchier/index.html\>

Weir, B.J., R.N. Chibbar, & .G. St.-Pierre 1994. *RAPD fingerprinting
cultivars of a native fruit species (Amelanchier alnifolia Nutt.,
Rosaceae), a new Canadian horticultural crop*. IN: P. Adams, J.S.
Miller, E.M. Golenberg and J.E. Adams (eds.). *Conservation of plant
genes II: Utilization of ancient and modern DNA*. Monogr. Syst. Bot.
48:141-148.

Weir, B.J., R.G. St.-Pierre, & R.N. Chibbar. 1997. *RAPD marker
polymorphism among saskatoon cultivars, clones, and seedlings*.
HortScience 32(6):1109-1113.

## Prepared By

*Guy Nesom*

Formerly BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

## Species Coordinator

### *Lincoln Moore*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Edited: 17jan01 jsp;07feb03ahv; 30may06jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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