Slender shrub or small tree to 15 m; bark smooth; lvs lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate to rarely oblong or obovate, 6-12 cm, commonly less than half as wide, long-acuminate, obtuse or rounded at base, glabrous from the beginning, or initially hairy only along the midrib beneath, finely and irregularly serrate, the gland near the sinus; petiole usually glandular at the summit; fls in umbel-like clusters of 2-5, on pedicels 1-2 cm; sep glabrous; pet white, 5-7 mm, villous- pubescent on the back near the base; fr red, juicy, acid, 6 mm thick; stone subglobose; 2n=16, 32. Dry or moist woods and forest-clearings, often abundant after fires; Nf. and Lab. to Mack. and B.C., s. to Pa. and Minn., irregularly in the mts. to N.C. and Tenn., and elsewhere to Ill., Io., and Colo. Apr., May.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
This species is local and in this state is restricted to the northwestern counties where it is found in wet woodland, senescent tamarack bogs, interdunal swamps, and rarely on dry, sandy soil in the dune area. Reports for this species in Indiana outside the area shown on the map should, no doubt, be referred to some other species.
