The species Amelanchier arborea is divided into three varieties. The full name of the variety found in the North Woods is "Amelanchier arborea var. The common name "shadbush" was coined because the species' flowering often coincides with the time of the upriver migration of the shad fish. This species is also called the common serviceberry, a name derived from the Sarvis tree.
A. arborea grows as a large shrub or a small understory tree with a maximum height at maturity of 10 meters. It is slow-growing but is an early successional species in the American Midwest. It does not have one dominant central trunk extending to the top of the tree, but rather, it has many branches that together compose the tree's general shape. The bark of the tree is thin, smooth and gray, sometimes showing vertical stripes, and the twigs are red-brown to purplish-gray. It can be distinguished by its clusters of white, 5-petaled flowers. Before flowering, the buds can be 10-12mm in length, coming to a point at the end, and at least part is usually red. A. arborea has an alternate, simple leafing arrangement. The leaves are between one and three inches long, ovate (egg-shaped) to obovate (inverted-egg-shaped), acute to acuminate, with the leaf base rounded to cordate (heart-shaped), and with serrate margins. The undersides of the leaves are pubescent (covered in fine, soft hairs) when young, but this diminishes as the plant matures. The pubescence helps the plant to keep warmth near the leaves in cold temperatures. The petiole ranges from 3/8" to 1.5".