Habitat

• throughout the eastern United States and adjacent southern Canada
• zone 3
• found on a range of sites from dry to swampy

Habit and Form

• generally 3' to 5' tall, but can get larger
• a multistemmed, suckering, deciduous shrub
• forms large colonies and spreads
• texture is medium

Summer Foliage

• good quality, shiny, leathery
• dark green upper surface, light green lower surface
• elliptical with fine, even serrations along the margin
• 1" to 3" long and 0.75" to 2" wide

Autumn Foliage

• orange, burgundy and purple
• dependable and showy, especially in exposed locations

Flowers

• clusters of small, white flowers
• in May, lasting only a week or so
• not overwhelming in bloom, but adds seasonal interest

Fruit

• clusters of purplish-black pome fruit
• 0.3" to 0.5" diameter
• persistent, from September through December
• eaten by birds, but left until after more desirable species have been consumed

Bark

• brown, but stem diameter is small, so unimportant

Culture

• adaptable to many conditions
• tolerant of both dry and wet soils
• easily transplanted and established
• full sun or partial shade, but best flowering, fruiting and fall color in full exposure

Landscape Use

• excellent for fall foliage effect
• multiseasonal due to flowers, high-quality summer foliage, flowers, fruit and fall foliage
• best used in mass plantings or borders
• for naturalistic plantings
• useful for bank stabilization and erosion control
• could be used more

Liabilities

• can get all the problems common to the rose family but I have observed it to be relatively pest and disease free
• tends to spread by suckers
• fruit not as showy as A. arbutifolia, but foliage may be more shiny

ID Features

• suckering habit
• black pome fruit
• twigs glabrous, often with loose waxy, whitish material (compare to pubescent A. arbutifolia twigs)
• undersides of leaves glabrous (compare to fuzzy undersides of A. arbutifolia)
• buds reddish

Propagation

• easy by seed, softwood cuttings, or division of colonies

Cultivars/Varieties

var. elata - A form with larger leaves, flowers and fruits that has a larger mature size (10'-12' tall). Many nurseries claim to grow this form.

'Autumn Magic' - A compact form (3'-5' tall) with good fruit set and bright red-purple fall color.

'Morton' (Iroquois Beauty™) - A dwarf form (only 2' to 3' tall) with ornamental traits similar to the species. Even smaller than 'Autumn Magic', thus useful for bringing multi-season interest to limited spaces.

'Viking' - A mid-sized cultivar averaging between 3' and 6' tall. Observers have noted good foliage quality -- both in summer and fall -- and large black fruit.