Sorbus hybrida

Taxobox
name = "Sorbus hybrida"

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image_width = 240px
image_caption = Foliage and fruit
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Rosales
familia = Rosaceae
subfamilia = Maloideae
genus = "Sorbus"
subgenus = "Aria"
species = "S. hybrida"
binomial = "Sorbus hybrida"
binomial_authority = L.

"Sorbus hybrida" (Finnish Whitebeam) is a species of whitebeam native to Scandinavia in Norway, eastern Sweden, and southwestern Finland, and locally in the Baltic States in Latvia.Rushforth, K. (1999). "Trees of Britain and Europe". Collins ISBN 0-00-220013-9.] Den Virtuella Floran: [http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/di/rosa/sorbu/sorbhyb.html "Sorbus hybrida" (in Swedish; with maps)] ] Vedel, H., & Lange, J. (1960). "Trees and Bushes in Wood and Hedgerow". Metheun & Co. Ltd., London.]

It is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 10–15 m tall with a stout trunk up to 60 cm diameter and grey bark; the crown is columnar or conic in young trees, becoming rounded with age, with branches angled upwards. The leaves are green above, and densely hairy with white hairs beneath, 7–12 cm long and 5–8 cm broad, lobed, with six to nine oval lobes on each side of the leaf, broadest near the base with the two basal pairs of lobes cut right to the midrib as separate leaflets, rounded at the apex, and finely serrated margins. The autumn colour is dull rusty brown. The flowers are 20 mm diameter, with five white petals and 20 yellowish-white stamens; they are produced in corymbs 6–11 cm diameter in late spring. The fruit is a globose pome 12–15 mm diameter, bright red, maturing in mid autumn. The fruit is succulent, and eaten by thrushes and waxwings, which disperse the seeds.

It is closely related to "Sorbus intermedia" (Swedish Whitebeam), which differs in having the leaves less deeply lobed with no separate leaflets, and to "Sorbus meinichii", which differs in having the basal four to six pairs of lobes cut right to the midrib as separate leaflets. All three are tetraploid apomictic species which breed true without pollination, and ultimately of hybrid origin between "Sorbus aria" and "Sorbus aucuparia".

Cultivation and uses

It is occasionally grown as an ornamental tree in northern Europe, though much less frequently than "S. intermedia"; it is locally naturalised in the British Isles.

References