Sorbus mougeotii
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Sorbus mougeotii'', the Vosges whitebeam or Mougeot's whitebeam, is a species of
whitebeam The whitebeams are members of the family Rosaceae, comprising subgenus ''Aria'' (or, according to some authorities, its own genus) of genus ''Sorbus'', and hybrids involving species of this subgenus and members of subgenera ''Sorbus'', ''Torminar ...
native to the mountains of central and western
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
from the
Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...
east through the
Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...
to
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, and north to the
Vosges Mountains The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...
.Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain and Europe''. Collins . It is a
deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...
shrub or small
tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
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
flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s are 10 mm diameter, with five white petals and 20 yellowish-white stamens; they are produced in
corymb Corymb is a botanical term for an inflorescence with the flowers growing in such a fashion that the outermost are borne on longer pedicels than the inner, bringing all flowers up to a common level. A corymb has a flattish top with a superficial ...
s 5–10 cm diameter in late spring. The
fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...
is a globose pome 10–12 mm diameter, bright red, maturing in mid autumn. The fruit is dryish, and eaten by
thrushes The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flyca ...
and
waxwings The waxwings are three species of passerine birds classified in the genus ''Bombycilla''. They are pinkish-brown and pale grey with distinctive smooth plumage in which many body feathers are not individually visible, a black and white eyestri ...
, which disperse the
seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
s.Hansen, K. F. (1985). Bornholmsk røn, Seljerøn, vogeserrøn. ''Haven'' 85 (7/8): 421-423 (in Danish). Its closest relatives are some of the
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
whitebeams, notably '' Sorbus anglica'', which differs only in slightly broader leaves. It is also closely related to ''
Sorbus intermedia ''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.Rushforth, K. ...
'' (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 Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
origin between '' Sorbus aria'' and '' Sorbus aucuparia''.Bean, W. J. (1980). ''Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles'' 8th ed., vol. 4. John Murray .


Cultivation and uses

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 A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
name 'Latifolia' (additionally leading to confusion with ''
Sorbus latifolia ''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 depe ...
'').Højgaard, A., Jóhansen, J., & Ødum, S. (1989). A century of tree planting on the Faroe Islands. Ann. Soc. Sci. Faeroensis Supplementum 14. It is valued for its tolerance of urban conditions and difficult soil, and is very commonly planted in land reclamation schemes on
slag heap A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. These waste materials are typically composed of shale, as well as smaller quan ...
s 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 The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
.


Gallery

Image:Sorb-moug.jpg, Leaves; under side, left; upper side, right Image:Sorbus mougeotii1.jpg, Foliage and fruit Image:Sorbus mougeotii2.jpg, Foliage and fruit Image:Alpareynir.jpg, A specimen in Reykjavík Botanical Gardens.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q163550 mougeotii