The rowans or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus Sorbus of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the Himalaya, southern Tibet and parts of western China, where numerous apomictic microspecies occur. The name rowan was originally applied to the species Sorbus aucuparia and is also used for other species in the genus Sorbus.
Sorbus aucuparia, commonly called rowan and mountain-ash, is a species of deciduous tree or shrub in the rose family. It is a highly variable species, and botanists have used different definitions of the species to include or exclude trees native to certain areas. A recent definition includes trees native to most of Europe and parts of Asia, as well as northern Africa. The range extends from Madeira, the British Isles and Iceland to Russia and northern China. Unlike many plants with similar distributions, it is not native to Japan.
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.
Chamaemespilus is a genus of shrubs in the family Rosaceae. It is monotypic, being represented by the single species Chamaemespilus alpina, commonly known as false medlar or dwarf whitebeam. It is native to the mountains of central and southern Europe, from the Pyrenees east through the Alps to the Carpathians and the Balkans, growing at altitudes of up to 2500 m.
The shipova is a hybrid of the European pear and the common whitebeam. It is a small to medium-sized tree growing to 10–18 m tall, with deciduous oval leaves 7–11 cm long and 5–6 cm broad. The fruit is a pome 2.5–3 cm long; it is edible with a sweet, yellowish flesh, which tastes similar to a Nashi pear.
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.
Sorbus cashmiriana, the Kashmir rowan, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae, native to the western Himalayas, including Kashmir.
Sorbus leyana. Ley's whitebeam is a species of small tree which is endemic to two sites in southern Wales. It is thought to have arisen by hybridisation of two species of Sorbus, one of which was the rowan. Its closest relatives are some of the other hybrid derived Sorbus species found in Britain.
Sorbus commixta, the Japanese rowan, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae, native to central and eastern China, Korea, Japan, and Sakhalin.
Sorbus oligodonta, also known as the kite-leaf rowan and white-fruited rowan, is a species of rowan found from the eastern Himalaya to south-central China, northern Vietnam and Myanmar.
Hedlundia hybrida, the oakleaf mountain ash, Swedish service-tree or Finnish whitebeam, is a species of whitebeam native to Norway, eastern Sweden, south-western Finland, and locally in Latvia.
Alniaria alnifolia, also called alder-leafed whitebeam, Korean whitebeam, or Korean mountain ash, Korean: 팥배나무; RR: Patbaenamu; MR: p'atpaenamu; lit. 'red bean pear tree' Chinese: 水榆花楸; pinyin: shui yu hua qiu; lit. 'water elm rowan', is a species of whitebeam native to eastern Asia in eastern and northern China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.
Sorbus mougeotii, the Vosges whitebeam or Mougeot's whitebeam, is a species of whitebeam native to the mountains of central and western Europe from the Pyrenees east through the Alps to Austria, and north to the Vosges Mountains.
Sorbus hupehensis, also known as Hupeh rowan or Hubei rowan, is a species of rowan native to central and western China. It is found between Qinghai and Gansu in the west, Yunnan in the south, Jiangxi in the southeast, and Shandong in the east.
Sorbus sargentiana, commonly known as Sargent's rowan is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. It is native to southwestern Sichuan and northern Yunnan in China, where it grows at altitudes of 2,000–3,200 m (6,560–10,500 ft).
Sorbus minima, commonly known as the lesser whitebeam or least whitebeam, is a shrub belonging to the subgenus Aria (whitebeams) in the genus Sorbus. It is endemic to Wales where it grows at a few sites in Breconshire. It is an apomictic microspecies which reproduces asexually and so is reproductively isolated from its close relatives such as the Swedish whitebeam, S. intermedia. It probably originated as a hybrid between the rock whitebeam and the rowan. It was first discovered in 1893 by Augustin Ley, the vicar of Sellack in Herefordshire who travelled widely in Wales.
Aria rupicola, commonly known as rock whitebeam, is a rare species of shrub or small tree best known from the British Isles but also reported from Norway, Sweden and Russia.
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.
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. is native to Europe, parts of northern Africa and western Asia.
