Sorbus is a genus of over 100 species of trees and shrubs in the rose family, Rosaceae. Species of Sorbus (s.l.) are commonly known as whitebeam, rowan, mountain-ash and service tree. The exact number of species is disputed depending on the circumscription of the genus, and also due to the number of apomictic microspecies, which some treat as distinct species, but others group in a smaller number of variable species. Recent treatments classify Sorbus in a narrower sense to include only the pinnate leaved species of subgenus Sorbus, raising several of the other subgenera to generic rank.
The whitebeams are members of the family Rosaceae, comprising the genus Aria. They are deciduous trees with simple or lobed leaves, arranged alternately. They are related to the rowans, and many of the endemic restricted-range apomictic microspecies of whitebeam in Europe are thought to derive from hybrids between the common whitebeam and the European rowan. Some are also thought to be hybrids with the wild service tree, and the service tree of Fontainebleau found in French woodlands.
Karpatiosorbus latifolia is a species of whitebeam that is endemic to the area around Fontainebleau, south of Paris in France, where it has been known since the early eighteenth century.
Hedlundia anglica, the English whitebeam, is a species of whitebeam tree in the family Rosaceae. It is endemic to Ireland and the United Kingdom, with an entire British population estimated at about 600 individuals.
Karpatiosorbus subcuneata, the Somerset whitebeam, is a species of plant in the family Rosaceae. It is endemic to coastal north Devon and west Somerset in the United Kingdom. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Aria vexans, commonly known as bloody whitebeam, is a rare species of tree in the family Rosaceae. It is endemic to England and is found along the coast between Culbone in Somerset and an area just west of Trentishoe in Devon. It can be seen in the Exmoor National Park. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Scandosorbus intermedia or, formerly, Sorbus intermedia, the Swedish whitebeam, is a species of whitebeam found in southern Sweden, with scattered occurrences in Estonia, Latvia, easternmost Denmark (Bornholm), the far southwest of Finland, and northern Poland.
Hedlundia hybrida, the Swedish service-treeFinnish whitebeam, or oakleaf mountain ash, is a species of whitebeam native to Norway, eastern Sweden, south-western Finland, and locally in Latvia.
Karpatiosorbus devoniensis is known by the English name of Devon whitebeam and formally as Broad-leaved Whitebeam. When the fruit was reported as sold at Barnstaple Pannier Market the name French Eagles was used, apart from 1929 when they were reported as eagle-berries. When the trees were reported as seen growing wild on botanical walks they were referred to as French Hails. Broad-leaved white-beam, which was the common name until Devon Whitebeam took over, was used once in 1907.
Hedlundia thuringiaca is a widely cultivated species of ornamental shrub. It is cultivated by grafting.
Karpatiosorbus houstoniae, or Houston's whitebeam, is a hybrid of two deciduous trees: the common whitebeam and the Bristol whitebeam. Only a single example of the hybrid is known to exist, at the Avon Gorge in Bristol, England. The only specimen grows on a cliff below Stokeleigh Camp at Leigh Woods in North Somerset and cannot be accessed without ropes.
Michael Charles Faraday Proctor PhD was an English botanist and plant ecologist, lecturer, scientific author based at the University of Exeter. He retired from his post as Reader in Plant Ecology at Exeter University in 1994.
Torminalis is a genus of plants in the rose family Rosaceae. The genus Torminalis was formerly included within the genus Sorbus, as the section Torminaria, but the simple-leafed species traditionally classified in Sorbus are now considered to form a separate monophyletic group. It is monotypic, being represented by the single species, Torminalis glaberrima, commonly known as wild service tree, chequers, and checker tree. This tree is native to Europe, parts of northern Africa and western Asia.
Aria porrigentiformis, commonly known as the grey-leafed whitebeam, is a species of whitebeam endemic to England and Wales.
Hedlundia scannelliana, commonly known as Scannell's whitebeam, is a species of shrub or tree endemic to Ross Island near Killarney in southwest Ireland. It is one of the rarest tree species in the world; only five individual plants are known.
Aria leighensis, commonly known as Leigh Woods whitebeam, is a rare species of whitebeam, a flowering plant in the|rose family Rosaceae.
Karpatiosorbus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rosaceae, native to Europe, including Crimea, and Algeria. Shrubs or small trees, they appear to have arisen via hybridization events between the clades Aria(Pers.) Host and TorminalisMedik. Many of its species propagate solely by apomixis.
Hedlundia is a genus of plants in the rose family. They are shrubs or small trees that have a hybrid origin involving crosses between Aria and Sorbus sensu stricto. There are about 48 species are distributed across central, western and southern Europe, Scandinavia, Turkey, the Caucasus, Crimea, and also central Asia. The term Hedlundia was published in 2017.
Normeyera is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae. It includes nine species native to west-central Europe, ranging from France through Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia to Poland.
