serviceberry

American  

[sur-vis-ber-ee] / ˈsɜr vɪsˌbɛr i /

noun

serviceberries plural

1. the fruit of any service tree.

2. a North American shrub or small tree, Amelanchier canadensis, of the rose family, having serrate, oblong leaves, clusters of white flowers,and a berrylike fruit.

3. any of various other plants of the genus Amelanchier.

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serviceberry British  

/ ˈsɜːvɪsˌbɛrɪ /

noun

1. Also called: shadbush.  any of various North American rosaceous trees or shrubs of the genus Amelanchier, esp A. canadensis, which has white flowers and edible purplish berries

2. the fruit of any of these plants

3. the fruit of the service tree

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• serviceberries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of serviceberry

An Americanism dating back to 1775–85; service ² + berry

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

serviceberry serviceberries

Also, I must ask: What is a serviceberry?

From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2024

Native tribes prized serviceberry for its hard, straight-grained wood, which they used to construct hand tools, like digging sticks and fish rakes.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 7, 2023

The Lenape knew spring by another bloom: white tufts of flowers from the serviceberry tree, which powder its branches like snow in April.

From New York Times ● Mar. 20, 2021

“Red buckeye, serviceberry, redbud, yellowbud, blackhaw viburnum and flowering dogwood.”

From Washington Times ● May 12, 2018

On the sandbars and along the margin of the river grows the small-leafed willow; in the low grounds adjoining are scattered rosebushes three or four feet high, the redberry, serviceberry and redwood.

From History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. I. To the Sources of the Missouri, Thence Across the Rocky Mountains and Down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Performed During the Years 1804-5-6. by Allen, Paul

For example, serviceberries are having a moment because they give you that multi-season, summer-fall fruits, and are such colorful hedges.

From Seattle Times ● May 10, 2023

Now the rolling hills have been reclaimed by ponderosa pines, arrowleaf balsamroot, serviceberries and lupines.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 9, 2022

Garlic mustard and chickweed at the start of spring, elderflower and nettle in the season; serviceberries, mulberries and mugwort in summer; and pawpaws, persimmons and crab apples in fall.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 21, 2022

While many younger Black people didn’t grow up going to the woods to “shop,” they have learned about lesser-known fruits such as serviceberries and the common cold remedy burdock root through books or the internet.

From New York Times ● Jul. 30, 2021

During his absence they had killed one of the mountain cocks, a few pheasants, and some small fish, on which with haws and serviceberries they had subsisted.

From History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. I. To the Sources of the Missouri, Thence Across the Rocky Mountains and Down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Performed During the Years 1804-5-6. by Allen, Paul