Saskatoon grows from Alaska across western Canada and into the western and north-central United States, in open woods, thickets and slopes from sea level to high elevations. Its fruit is eaten by birds, squirrels and bears, and deer, elk and rabbits browse the foliage. VASCAN lists it as native in Quebec, among nine provinces and territories.
The name Saskatoon comes from the Cree word misâskwatômina. The berries have long been eaten fresh or dried by Indigenous peoples in Canada, and were an ingredient in pemmican. European settlers called the genus serviceberry after a resemblance to the European Sorbus. The fruit is now an emerging horticultural crop on the Canadian prairies and in the upper Midwest.