Sorbus torminalis |
Sorbus intermedia |
|
---|---|---|
checkertree, wild service tree |
Swedish whitebeam |
|
Habit | Trees, to 120[–200] dm. | Trees, to 70[–200] dm. |
Stems | 1; bark gray; winter buds green to brown, ovoid to ovoid-oblong, 5–10 mm, scales dark-margined, shiny, glutinous, glabrous, ciliate, or villous. |
1; bark gray; winter buds green to red-brown, ovoid, 5–12 mm, shiny, slightly glutinous, whitish-villous. |
Leaves | simple; stipules early deciduous, whitish-villous; blade slightly shiny, green to dark green adaxially, ovate to broadly elliptic, 5.5–10.5 × 3–8 cm, margins deeply 1–4 subpalmately lobed, lobes ± triangular, (1–)1.5–2.5 cm wide, basal sinuses deepest, margins finely serrate, secondary veins in 4–6 main pairs, apex acute to acuminate, abaxial surface thinly white-hairy to glabrate, adaxial glabrous. |
simple; stipules early deciduous, densely whitish-villous; blade shiny, green to dark green adaxially, ovate to elliptic, 6–13 × 3.5–8.5 cm, margins proximally 4–7 pinnately lobed, lobes ± oblong, 1–1.5(–1.8) cm wide, basal sinuses deepest, margins distally coarsely serrate, main pairs of secondary veins 8–10, apex acute to obtuse, abaxial surface white-tomentose, adaxial glabrous or sparsely villous, indument usually persistent. |
Panicles | 15–60+-flowered, rounded, 3–17.5 cm diam.; peduncles whitish-villous. |
18–85-flowered, rounded, 6–17 cm diam.; peduncles white-tomentose. |
Pedicels | whitish-villous. |
white-tomentose. |
Flowers | 10–17 mm diam.; hypanthium densely villous, hypanthium plus sepals 5.5–7.5 mm; sepals 1.5–3.5 mm, margins villous and prominently glandular, glands often relatively thick; petals white, elliptic, broadly elliptic, or broadly ovate, 4–7 mm; stamens 20; carpels adnate to hypanthium, apex conic, styles 2, 3.5–4 mm. |
14–16 mm diam.; hypanthium whitish-tomentose, hypanthium plus sepals 5–6 mm; sepals 1.5–2.5 mm, margins villous and eglandular, rarely with inconspicuous glands; petals white, elliptic to broadly ovate, 5–7 mm; stamens 20; carpels distinct, apex conic, styles 2, 2.5–4 mm. |
Infructescences | sparsely whitish-villous. |
thinly white-tomentose to glabrate. |
Pomes | brown, narrowly obovoid, 15–19 × 10–13 mm, dull, not glaucous; lenticels abundant; sepals inconspicuous, incurved. |
bright red, ellipsoid, sometimes narrowly obovoid, 7–16 × 6–11 mm, shiny, faintly glaucous; lenticels few; sepals inconspicuous, erect, villous toward apex. |
Seeds | brown, oblong-lanceoloid, 8.1 × 3.4 mm, slightly asymmetric, slightly flattened. |
red-brown, narrowly ovoid, 6–6.5 × 2.5–3.1 mm, slightly asymmetric, slightly flattened. |
2n | = 34, 68 (Europe). |
= 68 (Europe). |
Sorbus torminalis |
Sorbus intermedia |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring; fruiting fall. | Flowering spring; fruiting fall. |
Habitat | Disturbed conifer forests | Thickets, roadsides, waste ground, disturbed conifer forests |
Elevation | 0–50 m (0–200 ft) | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) |
Distribution | Europe; sw Asia; nw Africa [Introduced, Wash.] |
MA; WA; BC; ON; Europe [Introduced in North America] |
Discussion | In European gardens, one or more clones of intergeneric hybrids between Pyrus communis and Sorbus are called ×Sorbopyrus auricularis (Knoop) C. K. Schneider. J. Wiśniewska et al. (1969) suggested that S. torminalis may be involved in the parentage of at least one clone. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Sorbus aria (Linnaeus) Crantz of Europe has been reported from San Juan County, Washington (S. Atkinson and F. Sharpe 1993; J. T. Kartesz and C. A. Meacham 2003). Those populations are S. intermedia, with more deeply lobed leaves and broader winter buds. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 9, p. 436. | FNA vol. 9, p. 437. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Crataegus torminalis | Pyrus intermedia, Aria intermedia |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Crantz: Stirp. Austr. Fasc. 2: 45. (1763) | (Ehrhart) Persoon: Syn. Pl. 2: 38. (1806) |
Web links |
|