General: Medium to tall shrub, 1-5 m tall; stems several, erect to spreading, freely branched, reddish-brown to yellowish; winter buds and young growth sticky, somewhat white- or grey-hairy.
Leaves: Alternate, deciduous, pinnately compound; leaflets (7) 9 to 13, oblong-lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 2-8 cm long, usually short-tapering to a sharp-pointed tip, smooth, finely saw-toothed almost to the base.
Flowers: Inflorescence a flat-topped to somewhat rounded, branched cluster of numerous (70 to 200 or more) small flowers, the branches more or less white-hairy; corollas white to cream, the petals 5, oval, 4-6 mm long; calyces white-hairy, 5-lobed, the lobes triangular; ovaries inferior; stamens 15-20.
Fruits: Berry-like pomes (like miniature apples), nearly globe-shaped, 7-10 mm long, orange to scarlet, not glaucous, 2- to 5-chambered; seeds 1 or 2 per chamber.
Notes: Two varieties occur in BC:
1. Leaflets often 13; stipules usually shed before end of blooming; plants from E of Coast-Cascade Mountains................ var. scopulina
1. Leaflets rarely more than 11; stipules persistent until after blooming; plants from W slope of Cascade Mountains..................... var. cascadensis (G.N Jones) C.L. Hitchc.
1. Plants becoming trees over 5 m tall; leaflets usually more than 13, winter buds covered with long soft-hairy grey hairs; styles 2 or 3...........................S. aucuparia
1. Plants shrubby, usually less than 5 m tall; leaflets rarely as many as 13, winter buds not covered with long soft grey hairs; styles 3 to 5.
2. Winter buds rusty-hairy; calyces smooth on outside; leaflets blunt or rounded at the tip, toothed for not more than 3/4 of their length; styles 4 or 5, fruit red, glaucous...............S. sitchensis
2. Winter buds sticky, sparsely white-hairy; calyces hairy on outside; leaflets sharp-pointed at tip, toothed for most of their length; styles 3 or 4; fruit orange, not glaucous................S. scopulina
Source: Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Habitat / Range
Mesic to moist glades, streambanks, forest edges and open forests in the montane and subalpine zones; frequent throughout BC, except rare W of Coast-Cascade Mountains; N to AK, E to AB and S to ND, WY, NM and N CA.
Ecological Framework for Sorbus scopulina var. scopulina
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
