National Collection Spotlight: Nantucket Shadbush

With a nod to CPC’s formative years stemming from conservation work amidst the landscape of New England, our National Collection Spotlight is the Nantucket Shadbush (Amelanchier nantucketensis). This rare, imperiled plant is being stewarded by Native Plant Trust, one of the nation’s first plant conservation organizations and a founding CPC Participating Institution. Located in Framingham, MA, their mission is to conserve and promote New England’s native plants.

The Nantucket Shadbush is endemic to the Atlantic Coast and found from Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard down to New York’s Long Island. While previously thought to be confined to sunny, sandy seaside locations, new populations have been identified inland on dry, open hilltops. It is found in pine barrens, plain grasslands, dry moors, as well as old abandoned fields, roadsides, and at the edges of ponds. In May and early June, the Nantucket Shadbush produces cream-colored flowers, and in the late summer months of July and August, small, dark-blue fleshy berries appear.

In 2021, CPC contracted the Native Plant Trust to recollect seed from a population currently held in long term orthodox seed storage as part of an IMLS-funded seed longevity experiment. The National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation will evaluate how germination tested viability and RNA Integrity of seed lots decline over time in storage, so that our network of conservation partners can best preserve this and other rare plant species. Learn more about conservation actions taken for Nantucket Shadbush on its National Collection Plant Profile and help support critical conservation work for this species with a Plant Sponsorship.