American mountain-ash | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Rosales |
Family: | Rosaceae |
Genus: | Sorbus |
Section: | Sorbus sect. Commixtae |
Species: | S. americana |
Binomial name | |
Sorbus americana | |
Distribution map of native Sorbus americana range. | |
Synonyms [3] | |
The tree species Sorbus americana is commonly known as the American mountain-ash. [4] It is a deciduous perennial tree, native to eastern North America. [5]
The American mountain-ash and related species (most often the European mountain-ash, Sorbus aucuparia ) are also referred to as rowan trees.
Sorbus americana is a relatively small tree, reaching 12 metres (40 ft) in height. [5] The American mountain-ash attains its largest specimens on the northern shores of Lake Huron and Lake Superior. [6]
It resembles the European mountain-ash, Sorbus aucuparia .
Native to eastern North America;
The berries of American mountain-ash are eaten by numerous species of birds, including ruffed grouse, ptarmigans, sharp-tailed grouse, blue grouse, American robins, other thrushes, waxwings, jays, and small mammals, such as squirrels and rodents. [9]
American mountain-ash is a preferred browse for moose and white-tailed deer. Moose will eat foliage, twigs, and bark. Up to 80 percent of American mountain-ash stems were browsed by moose in control plots adjacent to exclosures on Isle Royale. Fishers, martens, snowshoe hares, and ruffed grouse also browse American mountain-ash. [9]
Sorbus americana is cultivated as an ornamental tree, for use in gardens and parks. It prefers a rich moist soil and the borders of swamps, but will flourish on rocky hillsides.
A cultivar is the red cascade mountain-ash, or Sorbus americana 'Dwarfcrown'. It is planted in gardens, and as a street tree. [10]
After their first winter freeze, the fruits are edible raw or cooked. They can be used to make pie and jelly. [11]
Quercus montana, the chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak group, Quercus sect. Quercus. It is native to the eastern United States, where it is one of the most important ridgetop trees from southern Maine southwest to central Mississippi, with an outlying northwestern population in southern Michigan. It is also sometimes called rock oak because of its presence in montane and other rocky habitats.
Viburnum lentago, the nannyberry, sheepberry, or sweet viburnum, is a species of Viburnum native to North America.
Ptelea trifoliata, commonly known as common hoptree, wafer ash, stinking ash, and skunk bush, is a species of flowering plant in the citrus family (Rutaceae). It is native to North America, where it is found in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. It is a deciduous shrub or tree, with alternate, trifoliate leaves.
Cercis canadensis, the eastern redbud, is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, native to eastern North America from southern Michigan south to central Mexico, west to New Mexico. Species thrive as far west as California and as far north as southern Ontario. It is the state tree of Oklahoma. The prevalence of the so-called "Columbus strain" has seen the residents of Columbus, Wisconsin embrace the plant into their city's identity. Known as the "Redbud City," the town hosts "Redbud Day" annually the Saturday before Mother's Day, organizing a variety of themed events to recognize the tree.
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.
Oxydendrum arboreum, the sourwood or sorrel tree, is the sole species in the genus Oxydendrum, in the family Ericaceae. It is native to eastern North America, from southern Pennsylvania south to northwest Florida and west to southern Illinois; it is most common in the lower chain of the Appalachian Mountains. The tree is frequently seen as a component of oak-heath forests.
Diospyros virginiana is a persimmon species commonly called the American persimmon, common persimmon, eastern persimmon, simmon, possumwood, possum apples, or sugar plum. It ranges from southern Connecticut to Florida, and west to Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa. The tree grows wild but has been cultivated for its fruit and wood since prehistoric times by Native Americans.
Aralia spinosa, commonly known as devil's walking stick, is a woody species of plant in the genus Aralia, family Araliaceae, native to eastern North America. The various names refer to the viciously sharp, spiny stems, petioles, and even leaf midribs. It has also been known as Angelica-tree.
Carpinus caroliniana, the American hornbeam, is a small hardwood tree in the genus Carpinus. American hornbeam is also known as blue-beech, ironwood, musclewood and muscle beech. It is native to eastern North America, from Minnesota and southern Ontario east to Maine, and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida. It also grows in Canada. It occurs naturally in shaded areas with moist soil, particularly near the banks of streams or rivers, and is often a natural constituent understory species of the riverine and maritime forests of eastern temperate North America.
Quercus imbricaria, the shingle oak, is a deciduous tree in the red oak group of oaks. It is native primarily to the Midwestern and Upper South regions of North America.
Cornus alternifolia is a species of flowering plant in the dogwood family Cornaceae, native to eastern North America, from Newfoundland west to southern Manitoba and Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and Mississippi. It is rare in the southern United States. It is commonly known as green osier, alternate-leaved dogwood, and pagoda dogwood.
Celtis occidentalis, commonly known as the common hackberry, is a large deciduous tree native to North America. It is also known as the nettletree, sugarberry, beaverwood, northern hackberry, and American hackberry. It is a moderately long-lived hardwood with a light-colored wood, yellowish gray to light brown with yellow streaks.
Cladrastis kentukea, the Kentucky yellowwood or American yellowwood, is a species of Cladrastis native to the Southeastern United States, with a restricted range from western North Carolina west to eastern Oklahoma, and from southern Missouri and Indiana south to central Alabama. The tree is sometimes also called Virgilia.
Prunus nigra, the Canada plum, Canadian plum, or black plum, is a species of Prunus native to eastern North America.
Malus coronaria, also known by the names sweet crabapple or garland crab, is a North American species of Malus (crabapple).
Sorbus sitchensis, commonly known as western mountain ash and Sitka mountain-ash, is a small species of shrub of north-western North America.
Sorbus decora, commonly known as the northern mountain ash, showy mountain-ash, Greenland mountain-ash, and dogberry, is a species of deciduous shrub or very small tree native to northeastern North America.
Corylus americana, the American hazelnut or American hazel, is a species of deciduous shrub in the genus Corylus, native to the eastern and central United States and extreme southern parts of eastern and central Canada.
Sorbus californica, the California mountain ash, is an aggregate species of rowans native to western North America. The tree or bush is found in the mountains of California as the name suggests, but is not an ash, and this plant is sometimes cultivated. It has orange-red fruit and compound leaves that are toothed almost from base to apex, but is said to be most often confounded with the western North American species S. sitchensis which has pinkish fruit and leaflets with few teeth.