Appearance
In spring it produces star-shaped white flowers, which appear at the same time as the new leaves unfurling. Its young berry-like pome fruits are dark red when young, but become dark purple when ripe. The fruits are edible and have an apple and sweet flavor. The leaves also change colour, opening pink, maturing to yellow-green, and turning red in autumn. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.This form is an apomictic microspecies, and presumed to be of hybrid origin and therefore under the rules of botanical nomenclature it would be known as ''Amelanchier'' × ''lamarckii''. Its common name "snowy mespilus" reflects its close relationship with the medlar genus, ''Mespilus''.
Naming
The Latin specific epithet ''Lamarckii'' honors the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.References:
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