Serviceberry

Serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) is blooming here now. I have long thought it was named after Robert W. Service, but my web search tonight did not reveal that connection. Robert Service is a Canadian poet who wrote such great poems as "The Cremation of Sam McGee". See, for example, http://www.potw.org/archive/potw22.html).

Service, Robert. The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses. New York: Barse & Hopkins Publishers, 1907.)