Trees Gallery - St Andrews Botanic Gardens. Page 7

Sorbus devoniensis Sorbus - Latin meaning red or reddish-brown, referring to the berries; devoniensis - of Devon (ensis means of a place), referring to the location where the tree is found: mainly in SW England particularly Devon.

Devon whitebeam

A.k.a. French Hales or Hails, a corruption of the French word alise (service tree fruit), and broad-leaved Whitebeam, a medium sized tree, reaching up to 13 m. A hybrid between s. torminalis (Wild Service Tree) and s. aria (Common Whitebeam). . The flowers are creamy-white clusters (umbels) blooming in late spring.These turn into rounded, orange-brown berries that ripen to a russet-red, becoming soft and edible (medlar-like) in autumn.

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Sorbus lancastriensis Sorbus - Latin meaning red or reddish-brown, referring to the berries; devoniensis - of Devon (ensis means of a place), referring to the location where the tree is found: mainly in SW England particularly Devon.

Lancashire whitebeam

A.k.a. aria lancastriensis, and Lancastrian mountain ash, it grows only in a small area north of Morecambe Bay in Lancashire and Cumbria. A deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 6 m. Creamy white blossom in spring is followed by bright orange-red berries.

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Sorbus minima Sorbus - Latin meaning red or reddish-brown, referring to the berries; minima: from Latin minimus, meaning least or smallest, referring to the plant's size.

Lesser whitebeam

A.k.a. Hedlundia minima, and least whitebeam, a deciduous shrub in the rose family Rosaceae. It belongs to the genus Hedlundia, which includes species that have arisen from a hybridisation between members of the genus Sorbus (rowans) and members of genus Aria (whitebeams). It is an apomictic asexual development of seed or embryo without fertilization microspecies endemic to Wales. Probably a hybrid between the rock whitebeam (A. rupicola) and the rowan (S. aucuparia). It is a slender, deciduous shrub which can reach 3 m. The leaves are 6–8 centimetres long and are fairly narrow and oval in shape, acutely pointed at the tip and base. Flowers are produced in May and June and their white petals are 4 mm long. The red berries are 6–8 mm diameter.

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Sorbus pseudofennica from Greek: sorbus - service tree; pseudofennica - false Finnish, as it resembles a sorbus native to Finland

Arran service-tree

A.k.a. Hedlundia pseudofennica the taxonomy has been updated, with S. pseudofennica now classified within the newly created genus Hedlundia. and Arran cut-leaved whitebeam, a rare tree endemic to the Isle of Arran in Scotland, threatened by habitat loss. It is thought to be a naturally occurring hybrid between H. arranensis and Sorbus aucuparia. Hedlundia arranensis is itself a hybrid between Aria rupicola and sorbus aucuparia. Apomixis asexual development of seed or embryo without fertilization and hybridisation are common in some groups of sorbus species. There are at least two of these trees in the Garden, one labelled Hedlundia pseudofennica, the other sorbus pseudofennica.

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Sorbus rupicola from Greek: sorbus - service tree; rupicola - from Latin rupes meaning rock and cola meaning dweller, inhabitant, indicating it grows on rocks.

Rock whitebeam

This deciduous tree or woody shrub clings to areas of rocky woodland and fissures in limestone cliffs. A parent species of the rarer Arran whitebeam, the rock whitebeam is becoming increasingly hard to find. It has upright stems and oval, serrated mid-green leaves. It can reach 10m high. Flowers are white, 12–16mm diameter and grow in loose clusters in June to July, similar to those of rowan but larger. These are followed by deep red berries, 12–15 mm in diameter, broader than long, with numerous lenticels holes that allow internal gases to escape scattered over the surface. The berries fruit from September to November.

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Sorbus sargentiana from Greek: sorbus - service tree or rowan; sargentiana - after American dendrologist Charles Sprague Sargent (1841-1927).

Sargent's rowan

A small to medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 16 m, native to SW China, where it grows at altitudes of over 2000 m. It is (20–52 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 50 cm (20 in) in diameter, and a rounded crown. The flowers are 5–7 mm in diameter, with five white petals and 20 yellowish-white stamens, produced in very large corymbs a type of inflorescence in which the lower flowers have longer pedicels than the upper ones, creating a flat-topped appearance. in late spring to early summer. The fruit is a small pome a fruit consisting of a fleshy enlarged receptacle and a tough central core containing the seeds, e.g. an apple, pear, quince, rowan. , bright orange-red to red, maturing in early autumn; it is juicy, and readily eaten by thrushes, which disperse the seeds.

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Symphoricarpus albus from Greek symphorein meaning to bear together and karpos meaning fruit, describing its clustered berries; albus Latin for white, referring to the berries.

Snowberry

An erect, deciduous shrub, reaching 1–2 m high, producing a stiff, branching main stem and several smaller shoots from a rhizome. It can be invasive, spreading and colonizing an area to form a dense thicket. The inflorescence is a raceme of up to 16 flowers. Each flower has a small, five-toothed calyx of sepals. The bell-shaped, rounded corolla is bright pink in colour. It has pointed lobes at the mouth and the inside is filled with white hairs. The fruit is a fleshy white berry-like drupe a fleshy fruit with thin skin and a central stone containing the seed .The plant sometimes reproduces via seed but it is primarily vegetative, reproducing by sprouting from its spreading rhizome.