Hedlundia meinichii
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Hedlundia meinichii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Genus
Synonyms
- Pyrus meinichii (Lindeb. ex Hartm.) M.F.Fay & Christenh.
- Sorbus aucuparia subsp. meinichii Lindeb. ex Hartm.
- Sorbus hybrida var. meinichii (Lindeb. ex Hartm.) Rehder
- Sorbus meinichii (Lindeb. ex Hartm.) Hedl.
Editorial Note
The text below is that of Bean (Bean 1981) who discussed this taxon under the name Sorbus meinichii. We have created this hybrid article – Bean’s text under the correct modern name, with appropriate synonymy – whilst we await sponsorship to enable a full revision of this genus to be written. We are re-organising the Sorbus sensu lato articles in this way to enable a new revision of Sorbus sensu stricto to commence in 2023, and to bring the nomenclature of this complex group of plants up to date in line with modern treatments.
For Sorbus teodori, which Bean discussed below S. meinichii, see Hedlundia teodori.
TC, September 2023.
A small tree in the wild, which in gardens has been confused with S. hybrida, from which it is obviously distinct in having leaves with five (more rarely four) pairs of free leaflets, which are subacute to obtuse at the apex, narrowed and adnate to the rachis at the base; the upper part of the leaf, which is in effect a terminal leaflet, is lobed, the lobes decreasing in depth upwards, and more or less rhombic in outline. Flowers about 1⁄2 in. across. Fruits orbicular, about 1⁄2 in. wide, with a bitter flesh.
A native of southern and western Norway. It is a tetraploid apomict, considered by Liljefors to have three sets of chromosomes from S. aucuparia and one from the Aria group. It was introduced by Messrs Hillier in the late 1970s and so far as is known had not previously been in cultivation in Britain. A sorbus once in commerce under the name is S. hybrida, and there has also been confusion between S. meinichii and seedling forms of S. × thuringiaca (S. × semipinnata).