Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Finnish Whitebeam
Sorbus hybrida
- Family: Rose Family – Rosaceae
- Height: 3–10 m (10–33 ft.)
- Flower: Regular (actinomorphic), rather small, strong-smelling. Calyx-lobes five, triangular, sharp-pointed, densely downy-haired. Petals five, white, with rounded tip. Carpels two, partly fused. Stamens 15–25. Inflorescence a dense compound cyme, borne on short shoots, flower-stalks hairy.
- Leaves: Alternate. Stalked, elliptic, ca. 10 cm (4 in.) long, partly pinnate, partly pinnately lobed. Usu. two or three pairs of leaflets at base of blade. Terminal leaflet basally deep-lobed. Leaflets and lobes sharp-toothed, densely hairy and greyish to almost white beneath.
- Fruit: A red, 2–3-seeded, almost globose berry.
- Habitat: Rocky meadow banks and broadleaf woods. Also an ornamental and an escape.
- Flowering time: June.
The Finnish whitebeam is a typical insect-pollinated species. Its strong-smelling flowers lure plenty of pollinators, such as flies, butterflies, beetles, and bees. When the berries are ripe, they attract birds which eat them, and disperse the seeds.
The Finnish whitebeam has a southern distribution occurring chiefly in the archipelago. It is readily distinguished from the rowan (S. aucuparia) by the only basally pinnate leaves. The Swedish whitebeam (S. intermedia) again, has only shallowly lobed leaves which rarely are divided into leaflets.
There are at least 85 species of Sorbus, in Europe alone more than 50.
