Sorbus

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Sorbus
Sorbus aucuparia aka rowan.jpg
European rowan ( Sorbus aucuparia ) with fruit
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Subfamily: Amygdaloideae
Tribe: Maleae
Subtribe: Malinae
Genus: Sorbus
L.
Subgenera

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 [1] [2] [3] [4] 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.

Contents

Sorbus is not closely related to the true ash trees which belong to the genus Fraxinus , although the leaves are superficially similar.

Genus

As treated in its broad sense, the genus is divided into two main and three or four small subgenera:

Sorbus (Sorbus)
Sorbus (Aria)
Sorbus (Micromeles)
Sorbus (Cormus)
Sorbus (Torminaria)
Sorbus (Chamaemespilus)

Hybrids are common in the genus, including many between the subgenera; very often these hybrids are apomictic (self-fertile without pollination), so able to reproduce clonally from seed without any variation. This has led to a very large number of microspecies, particularly in western Europe (including Britain) and parts of China.

Sorbus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some moth species—see list of Lepidoptera that feed on Sorbus. Sorbus domestica is used to flavour some apple wines, see Apfelwein .

Uses

Ornamental trees

Sorbus species are cultivated as ornamental trees for parks and gardens and as avenue trees, and have given rise to several cultivars. The following, of mixed or uncertain parentage, have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit: [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosaceae</span> Rose family of flowering plants

Rosaceae, the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maloideae</span> Subfamily of flowering plants

The MaloideaeC.Weber was the apple subfamily, a grouping used by some taxonomists within the rose family, Rosaceae. Recent molecular phylogenetic evidence has shown that the traditional Spiraeoideae and Amygdaloideae form part of the same clade as the traditional Maloideae, and the correct name for this group is Amygdaloideae. Earlier circumscriptions of Maloideae are more-or-less equivalent to subtribe Malinae or to tribe Maleae. The group includes a number of plants bearing commercially important fruits, such as apples and pears, while others are cultivated as ornamentals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amygdaloideae</span> Subfamily of flowering plants

Amygdaloideae is a subfamily within the flowering plant family Rosaceae. It was formerly considered by some authors to be separate from Rosaceae, and the family names Prunaceae and Amygdalaceae have been used. Reanalysis from 2007 has shown that the previous definition of subfamily Spiraeoideae was paraphyletic. To solve this problem, a larger subfamily was defined that includes the former Amygdaloideae, Spiraeoideae, and Maloideae. This subfamily, however, is to be called Amygdaloideae rather than Spiraeoideae under the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants as updated in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rowan</span> Common name of a subgenus of flowering plants in the family Rosaceae

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitebeam</span> Subgenus of flowering plants, the whitebeams, in the rose family Rosaceae

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.

<i>Chamaemespilus</i> Species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae

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 elevations of up to 2500 m.

The Arran whitebeams are species of whitebeam endemic to the island of Arran, Ayrshire, Scotland.

<i>Hedlundia arranensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Hedlundia arranensis, sometimes referred to as the Scottish or Arran whitebeam, is a species of plant in the family Rosaceae. It is endemic to the island of Arran in Scotland.

<i>Aria edulis</i> Species of tree, the type species of the whitebeams

Aria edulis, the whitebeam or common whitebeam, is a species of deciduous tree in the family Rosaceae. It is native to most of Europe as well as North Africa and temperate Asia. Typically compact and domed, with few upswept branches and almost-white underside of the leaves, it generally favours dry limestone and chalk soils. The hermaphrodite cream-white flowers appear in May, are insect pollinated, and go on to produce scarlet berries, which are often eaten by birds.

<i>Scandosorbus intermedia</i> Species of whitebeam found in northern Europe

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.

<i>Hedlundia hybrida</i> Hybrid species of tree

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.

<i>Alniaria alnifolia</i> Species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae

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.

<i>Sorbus minima</i> Species of shrub

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.

<i>Sorbus vilmorinii</i> Species of tree

Sorbus vilmorinii, the Vilmorin's rowan or Vilmorin's mountain ash, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae, native to Sichuan, Tibet and Yunnan in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maleae</span> Tribe of flowering plants

The Maleae are the apple tribe in the rose family, Rosaceae. The group includes a number of plants bearing commercially important fruits, such as apples and pears, while others are cultivated as ornamentals. Older taxonomies separated some of this group as tribe Crataegeae, as the Cydonia group, or some genera were placed in family Quillajaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malinae</span> Subtribe of flowering plants

Malinae is the name for the apple subtribe in the rose family, Rosaceae. This name is required by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, which came into force in 2011 for any group at the subtribe rank that includes the genus Malus but not either of the genera Rosa or Amygdalus. The group includes a number of plants bearing commercially important fruits, such as apples and pears, while others are cultivated as ornamentals.

<i>Torminalis</i> Genus of trees in the rose family Rosaceae

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 leighensis, commonly known as Leigh Woods whitebeam, is a rare species of whitebeam, a flowering plant in the|rose family Rosaceae.

<i>Hedlundia</i> Genus of flowering plants

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.

References

  1. Robertson, K. R., J. B. Phipps, J. R. Rohrer, and P. G. Smith. 1991. A Synopsis of Genera in Maloideae (Rosaceae). Systematic Botany16: 376–394.
  2. McAllister, H. 2005. The Genus Sorbus: Mountain Ash and Other Rowans. Richmond, Surrey, UK: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  3. Potter, D., T. Eriksson, R. C. Evans, S.-H. Oh, J. E. E. Smedmark, D.R. Morgan, M. S. Kerr, and C. S. Campbell. (2007). Phylogeny and classification of Rosaceae. Plant Systematics and Evolution. 266(1–2): 5–43.
  4. Campbell C. S., R. C. Evans, D. R. Morgan, T. A. Dickinson, and M. P. Arsenault. 2007. Phylogeny of subtribe Pyrinae (formerly the Maloideae, Rosaceae): Limited resolution of a complex evolutionary history. Pl. Syst. Evol.266: 119–145.
  5. "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 98. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  6. "RHS Plantfinder - Sorbus 'Eastern Promise'" . Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  7. "RHS Plantfinder - Sorbus 'Leonard Messel'" . Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  8. "RHS Plantfinder - Sorbus 'Wisley Gold'" . Retrieved 12 November 2018.

Further reading