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 Common Whitebeam flowers
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Sorbus subgenus Aria |
The whitebeams are members of the Rosaceae family, in genus Sorbus subgenus Aria. They are deciduous trees with simple or lobed leaves, arranged alternately. They are related to the rowans (Sorbus subgenus Sorbus), and many of the endemic restricted-range apomictic microspecies of whitebeam in Europe are thought to derive from hybrids between S. aria and the European rowan S. aucuparia; some are also thought to be hybrids with the Wild Service Tree S. torminalis, notably the Service Tree of Fontainebleau Sorbus latifolia in French woodlands.
The best known species is Common Whitebeam Sorbus aria, but several other species from Europe and Asia in particular are widely cultivated as ornamental trees.
The surface of the leaf is an unremarkable mid-green, but the underside is almost white (hence the name) transforming the appearance of the tree in strong winds, as noted by the poet Meredith: "flashing as in gusts the sudden-lighted whitebeam" 1 [1].
The berries are a favourite of birds, though less palatable (drier, less juicy) than rowan berries. Whitebeams are sometimes used as larval food plants by Lepidoptera species including Short-cloaked Moth.
The wood is hard, and suited for woodturning, furniture and tool handles, a tough wood that was used to make cogs before the use of iron. It is a deep orange when wet, and pale yellow after drying.
Etymology
'White' from the colour of the emergent foliage and, later, undersides of the leaves, 'beam' from the Saxon word for 'tree'.
References
- ^ Meredith, G. (1851). Love in the valley. Line 207. Poems
