AMELANCHIER canadensis - NZ Whitebait Tree

This week, we bring you another of the Top 10 Spring Blossom Trees. Many will know the Amelanchier canadensis as either NZ Whitebait or the Shad Bush Tree, and there’s certainly a reason we think the latter name might have come about. But before we explain, let’s take a little journey in our minds and transport ourselves to the frozen tundra of the wild west in the late 1800s. 

If Wyatt Earp wanted to know when it was time to plant his herb garden (and we’re completely making this up as we have no idea if Wyatt Earp had a herb garden) then he might very well have looked at the Amelanchier canadensis. Native to North America, where it’s known as the ‘Service Berry’, it was often the first tree to bloom in Spring, and was used by the early settlers to mark a change of the seasons.

Over here, we imagine it became known as the Whitebait Tree because its blossom is timed with the running of whitebait in our rivers. In fact, legend has it that if you see the first blossom on the tree in a morning, you’re guaranteed a prize haul this whitebait season. If you see a blossom first in the afternoon, then you might not be so lucky.

Ok - we may have made that up too. Maybe that’s because we got lost in the dreamy quality of this tree. You see, the early Spring blossoms of white starry flowers have a magic to them. They whisk you away to a place where you are lost in your thoughts and your mind happily wanders. It really is quite beautiful.