Edible berry?

 


Hello

There have been many posts about edible berries but I could not find
anything
that looks like the one I'm after so please forgive a newbie if
this has been
handled before.

I have a 6m tree/shrub in my garden with black berries, end of June /
beginning
of July in central London, England. The tree attracts wood
pigeons. I tasted the
berries and they are sweet with low acidity and a
slight almond aftertaste
(cyanide??? heeelp!!!). I made a jam and then
decided to post on this forum
before I went ahead and poisoned my whole
family :-)

My guess is that it is some sort of whitebeam (the leaves are slightly
whiter
below than above.)

I am including a few photos. If anyone out there has sufficient
expertise to
give me a definite identification I would be ever so
grateful.

Jossy


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--
Jossy

 

Jossy said:

No, I don't think that this is any sort of whitebeam (Sorbus). It looks to
me like it could be a serviceberry (one of several North American
Amelanchier species or one of the hybrids developed for use in
ornamental landscaping.

Quoting the Wikipedia article,
"The fruit of several species are excellent to eat raw, tasting somewhat
like a blueberry, strongly accented by the almond-like flavour of the
seeds."

The ones I've tasted (A. alnifolia, A. x 'Autumn Brilliance') remind
me a bit of blueberries, with a hint of prunes.

The winter buds of Amelanchiers are very distinctive; conspicuous,
pointed, slightly recurved, and quite diagnostic.  (I'm surprised
that I wasn't able to find an image of them with a quick search.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Juneberries.html

Amelanchiers have become fairly common as ornamental shrubs
or small multistemmed trees in the past decade or so.  


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Pat in Plymouth MI
    
"Vegetables are like bombs packed tight with all kinds of important
nutrients..."     --Largo Potter, Valkyria  Chronicles
 
email valid but not regularly monitored
  

 


I forgot to add that the tree has white flowers in the spring that turn
to a
light pink.


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--
Jossy

 


year , The bolg wriet good


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--
ter001