| Lifespan: | ⌛ | 50-100 years"50-100 years" is not in the list (perennial, annual, biennial, unknown) of allowed values for the "Lifespan" property. |
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| Origin: | ✈ | Europe, northern Asia |
| Exposure: | ☼ | full sun"full sun" is not in the list (sun, part-sun, shade, unknown) of allowed values for the "Exposure" property., part-sun |
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| Features: | ✓ | flowers, fruit |
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Rosaceae > |
Sorbus > |
Rowan is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree typically growing to 8–10 m tall, more rarely 20 m, and exceptionally to 28 m. The bark is smooth, silvery grey of young trees, becoming scaly pale grey-brown and occasionally fissured on old trees. The shoots are green and variably hairy at first, becoming grey-brown and hairless; the buds are conspicuous, purple-brown, and often densely hairy. The leaves are pinnate, 10–22 cm long and 612 cm broad, with 9–19 (most often 13–15) leaflets; each leaflet is 3–7 cm long and 15–23 mm broad, with a coarsely serrated margin; they are variably hairy, particularly the petiole and leaf veins on the underside. The flowers are hermaphrodite, produced in large terminal corymbs 8–15 cm diameter with up to 250 flowers, the individual flowers 1 cm diameter, with five creamy-white petals, and are insect pollinated. The fruit is a small pome 6–9 mm (rarely up to 14 mm) diameter, green at first, ripening bright red in late summer, and containing up to eight (most commonly two) small seeds.
Cultivation
Widely grown as an ornamental tree in northern Europe, more locally in northern North America, where also sometimes naturalised.
Propagation
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Pests and diseases
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Subspecies
- Sorbus aucuparia subsp. aucuparia. Temperate Europe and northwest Asia, south to central Spain, central Italy, and northernmost Greece, and east to the Ob and Irtysh rivers. Tree form; leaves and shoots hairy.
- Sorbus aucuparia subsp. fenenkiana. Bulgaria (endemic).
- Sorbus aucuparia subsp. glabrata (syn. S. glabrata). Subarctic regions, from Iceland, northernmost Scotland (Orkney, Shetland), northern Scandinavia, northwest Russia, and also locally at tree line in central Europe in the Alps and Carpathians. Shrubby; leaves and shoots less hairy.
- Sorbus aucuparia subsp. praemorsa. High altitudes in the Mediterranean region in France (Corsica) and Italy (Sicily and Calabria).
- Sorbus aucuparia subsp. sibirica (syn. S. sibirica). Temperate northern Asia, east of the Ob and Irtysh rivers. Tree form; leaves and shoots hairless.
Gallery
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photo 1
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photo 3
References
- Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins ISBN 0-00-220013-9.
- Trees for Life Species Profile: Rowan
- Flora of NW Europe: Sorbus aucuparia
External links
- w:Sorbus aucuparia. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Sorbus aucuparia QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)