Service Tree

Sorbus domestica subsp. var.	Service tree
	Habit: tree Height: ⇕ to Width: ⇔ to 30ft50ft 30ft Height: ⇕ 30 ft to 50 ft Width: ⇔ warning.png"" cannot be used as a page name in this wiki. to 30 ft Lifespan: ⌛ perennial Origin: ✈ Poisonous: ☠ Bloom: ❀ early spring, mid spring, late spring	Exposure: ☼ sun Water: ◍ Features: ✓ deciduous, flowers Hidden fields, interally pass variables to right place Minimum Temp: ☃ °Fwarning.png"°F" is not a number. USDA Zones: 6 to 10 Sunset Zones: Flower features: ❀ white
	Rosaceae > Sorbus domestica var. , L.

Sorbus domestica (Service Tree, or sometimes True Service Tree to distinguish it from the Wild Service Tree; syn. Cormus domestica (L.) Spach) is a species of Sorbus native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa (Atlas Mountains), and southwest Asia (east to the Caucasus).

It is a deciduous tree growing to 15–20 m (rarely to 30 m) tall with a trunk up to 1 m diameter, though can also be a shrub 2–3 m tall on exposed sites. The bark is brown, smooth on young trees, becoming fissured and flaky on old trees. The winter buds are green, with a sticky resinous coating. The leaves are 15–25 cm long, pinnate with 13-21 leaflets 3–6 cm long and 1 cm broad, with a bluntly acute apex, and a serrated margin on the outer half or two thirds of the leaflet. The flowers are 13–18 mm diameter, with five white petals and 20 creamy-white stamens; they are produced in corymbs 10–14 cm diameter in late spring, and are hermaphrodite and insect pollinated. The fruit is a pome 2–3 cm long, greenish-brown, often tinged red on the side exposed to sunlight; it can be either apple-shaped (f. pomifera (Hayne) Rehder) or pear-shaped (f. pyrifera (Hayne) Rehder).

It is a long-lived tree, with ages of 300–400 years estimated for some in Britain.

Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Sorbus domestica, Linn. (Pyrus Sorbus, Gaertn. P. domestica. Smith. Cormus domestica, Spach). Service Tree. Fig. 3650. Round-headed tree, 30-60 ft. high: winter buds glutinous: petioles tomentose; lfts. 11-17, obovate-oblong to oblong, sharply and rather coarsely serrate, with acuminate teeth, usually entire near the base, green and glabrous above, floccose-tomentose beneath, at least when young, 1-2 1/2 in. long: fls. white, 1/2 in. across, in broadly pyramidal rather loose, tomentose corymbs: fr. 1/2 – 1 1/4 in. across, usually yellowish, with red or orange cheek, apple-shaped in var. maliformis, Lodd., pear-shaped in var. pyriformis, Lodd. May. S. Eu., N. Afr., and W. Asia.—This species is often confounded with the European mountain-ash, from which it is almost indistinguishable without frs. or fls., except by the glutinous winter buds. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Gallery

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  Foliage and fruit

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  Foliage and fruit

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  Bark

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  details of a tree

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  Tree

External links

• w:Service Tree. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Service Tree QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)