A domed tree whose leaves are dark and glossy above but coated in dense white felt below, flashing silver in the wind
Common whitebeam.
Nature · Trees
Common whitebeam
Native to southern England · deciduous, to 20 m · flowers May · chalk and limestone, widely planted
Sorbus aria — Rosaceae
A compact, domed tree whose leaves are dark green above and felted white beneath, so that the whole crown flickers silvery in a breeze. It is native to southern England, especially on chalk and limestone, but widely planted in parks, gardens and streets elsewhere. Scarlet berries follow May blossom.
How to know it
How to spot them
- ▸Oval, irregularly toothed leaves, shiny dark green above and covered in white felt beneath
- ▸Emerging leaves look like magnolia flowers in bud
- ▸Smooth grey bark and twigs; shoots brick red in sun
- ▸Clusters of five-petalled white flowers in May
- ▸Scarlet berries in late summer and autumn; leaves fade to russet
How to know it
Its opening leaves look like magnolia flowers when they first unfold
Common whitebeam.
Scarlet berries known in north-west England as chess apples, edible when almost rotten
Common whitebeam.
A Rosaceae tree whose fine-grained white timber made cogs, wheels and chairs, native to southern England but planted everywhere
Common whitebeam (Sorbus aria).
Its leaves fade to a rich russet before falling, and its shoots are brick red in sunlight
Common whitebeam.
A rowan relative with simple, not pinnate, leaves whose undersides give it its name
Common whitebeam — the white beam is the leaf underside.
Quick-fire facts
- •Sorbus aria: a relative of rowan, but with simple toothed leaves
- •Woodland Trust: native to southern England, common in parks and gardens but quite rare in the wild
- •The berries are called chess apples in north-west England
- •Trees reach about 20 m
- •Caterpillars of several small moths feed on it and birds favour the berries
- •Timber is fine-grained, hard and white, used for turnery, joinery, cogs and wheels
- •Susceptible to aphids and blister mites
- •Britain also has several rare endemic whitebeam species, such as Arran and rock whitebeam, listed in the Woodland Trust A–Z
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Sources
- Woodland Trust — Whitebeam (Sorbus aria)