Sorbus mougeotii | |
---|---|
Leaves and fruit | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Rosales |
Family: | Rosaceae |
Genus: | Sorbus |
Subgenus: | Sorbus subg. Aria |
Species: | S. mougeotii |
Binomial name | |
Sorbus mougeotii | |
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. [1]
It is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 8–10 m (rarely 20 m) tall, often multi-stemmed, with trunks up to 30 cm (rarely 50 cm) diameter and grey bark; the crown is dense, broad ovoid, with numerous erect branches. The leaves are glossy dark green above, and densely hairy with white hairs beneath, 6–10 cm long and 3–5 cm broad, broadest near the middle, shallowly lobed with seven to twelve forward-pointing lobes on each side of the leaf, bluntly pointed at the apex, and serrated margins. The autumn colour is dull grey-brown. The flowers are 10 mm diameter, with five white petals and 20 yellowish-white stamens; they are produced in corymbs 5–10 cm diameter in late spring. The fruit is a globose pome 10–12 mm diameter, bright red, maturing in mid autumn. The fruit is dryish, and eaten by thrushes and waxwings, which disperse the seeds. [1] [2]
Its closest relatives are some of the endemic British whitebeams, notably Sorbus anglica , which differs only in slightly broader leaves. It is also closely related to Sorbus intermedia (Swedish whitebeam), which differs in having the leaves grey-white below and more deeply lobed, with the lobes spreading rather than forward-pointing, the fruit oval and less bright red, and in forming a stouter tree with a single trunk and more horizontal branching. All are tetraploid apomictic species which breed true without pollination, and ultimately of hybrid origin between Sorbus aria and Sorbus aucuparia . [1] [2] [3]
It is widely grown as an ornamental tree in northern Europe, though usually unrecognised, misidentified as Sorbus intermedia. Although described in 1858, it was only brought into widespread cultivation in the 1950s by the Danish Heath Society, being sold as a "new improved form" of Sorbus intermedia, sometimes with the cultivar name 'Latifolia' (additionally leading to confusion with Sorbus latifolia ). [2] [3] [4] It is valued for its tolerance of urban conditions and difficult soil, and is very commonly planted in land reclamation schemes on slag heaps and roadside shrub planting. It has also proved very tolerant of oceanic climates with cold summers, growing much better than S. intermedia in coastal conditions north to the Faroe Islands. [4]
Viburnum lentago, the nannyberry, sheepberry, or sweet viburnum, is a species of Viburnum native to North America.
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 subgenus Aria of genus Sorbus, and hybrids involving species of this subgenus and members of subgenera Sorbus, Torminaria and Chamaemespilus. 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 S. aria and the European rowan S. aucuparia; some are also thought to be hybrids with the wild service tree S. torminalis, notably the service tree of Fontainebleau Sorbus latifolia in French woodlands.
Sorbus torminalis, with common names wild service tree, chequers, and checker tree, is a species of tree in the mountain ash or rowan genus (Sorbus) of the rose family (Rosaceae), that is native to Europe, parts of northern Africa and western Asia.
Sorbus chamaemespilus, the false medlar or dwarf whitebeam, is a species of Sorbus 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.
Acer circinatum, the vine maple, is a species of maple native to western North America.
Acer ginnala, the Amur maple, is a plant species with woody stems native to northeastern Asia from easternmost Mongolia east to Korea and Japan, and north to the Russian Far East in the Amur River valley. It is a small maple with deciduous leaves that is sometimes grown as a garden subject or boulevard tree.
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.
Acer shirasawanum, the Shirasawa maple or fullmoon maple, is a species of maple native to Japan, on central and southern Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū.
Acer capillipes, is a maple in the same taxonomic section as other snakebark maples such as A. pensylvanicum, A. davidii and A. rufinerve. It is native to mountainous regions in Japan, on central and southern Honshū, Kyūshū and Shikoku islands, usually growing alongside mountain streams.
Acer rufinerve, the grey-budded snake-bark-maple, redvein maple or Honshū maple, is a species of tree in the snakebark maple group, related to Acer capillipes. It is native to mountain forests of Japan, on Honshū, Kyūshū and Shikoku.
Sorbus commixta, the Japanese rowan, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae, native to Japan, Sakhalin, and the Korean island of Ulleungdo.
Scandosorbus intermedia, the Swedish whitebeam, is a species of whitebeam found in southern Sweden, with scattered occurrences in easternmost Denmark (Bornholm), the far southwest of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and northern Poland.
Sorbus × hybrida, the oakleaf mountain ash, Swedish service-tree or Finnish whitebeam, is a hybrid species of whitebeam native to Norway, eastern Sweden, southwestern Finland, and locally in Latvia.
Alniaria alnifolia, also called alder-leafed whitebeam, Korean whitebeam, or Korean mountain ash, 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 hupehensis is a species of rowan native to central and western China.
Sorbus sargentiana, Sargent's rowan is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae, 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).
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. The term Otmast was used once as a pet name, as its true identity was not known. It is a species of whitebeam, trees and shrubs in the family Rosaceae. It is endemic to the British Isles, growing wild in areas of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and south-east Ireland as a native and north-east Ireland as an introduction.
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.
Euclea crispa, commonly known as the blue guarri, is an Afrotropical plant species of the family Ebenaceae. The hardy and evergreen plants may form a dense stand of shrubs, or grow to tree size. It is widespread and common in the interior regions of southern Africa, and occurs northward to the tropics. Though some are present near the South African south and east coasts, they generally occur at middle to high altitudes. It is readily recognizable from its much-branched structure and dull bluish foliage colour. Those bearing lanceolate leaves may however resemble the Wild olive, another common species of the interior plateaus.