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Old 12-11-2006, 08:40 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Stewart Robert Hinsley Stewart Robert Hinsley is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
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Default What was this sorbus?

In message , K
writes
Stewart Robert Hinsley writes
In message , Neil Jones
writes
I saw a roadside Sorbus tree today. Of the Mountain Ash type.

The berries were yellow and the leaves were a delightful reddish brown.
It was quite striking.

Can anyone suggest which species it was?


There's a lot of different rowans. (50 species or so, IIRC.) However
one of the yellow-fruited forms is the cultivar 'Xanthocarpa' of the
native Sorbus aucuparia. But the specimen I photographed last month at
NT Wallington is more orange- than yellow-fruited.

I've been through my digital image collection, and other
yellow-fruited forms are Sorbus 'Sunshine' (also somewhat orange) and
Sorbus 'Joseph Rock'.

Joseph Rock is very upright in growth. If Neil saw the same type as I
noticed over the weekend, it's a much more rounded shape. Quite
spectacular, an overall image of red, embedded with clusters of pure
yellow fruits.


'Sunshine' is also upright in growth. The 'Xanthocarpa' I saw had a
rounded crown, but Sorbus aucuparia can also be upright in growth, and I
wouldn't be confident that 'Xanthocarpa' has a consistent habit.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley