Sorbus megalocarpa Rehd.

A small tree up to 25 ft high or a large shrub; young shoots stout, glabrous, reddish, becoming later dull purple, freely marked with lenticels; winter-buds very large, ovoid, 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. long, viscous and shining. Leaves narrowly oval, sometimes obovate or ovate, broadly wedge-shaped or sometimes rounded at the base, finely and closely toothed, 5 to 9 in. long, 2 to 41⁄2 in. wide, veins parallel, in fourteen to twenty pairs, glabrous on both surfaces except that when young there are tufts of down in the vein-axils; stalk 1⁄2 to 1 in. long. Corymbs appearing with or even before the unfolding leaves 4 to 6 in. wide, 3 to 4 in. high, carrying numerous flowers each 3⁄4 in. wide. Petals dull white, round, 1⁄4 in. wide. Sepals broadly triangular, pointed, 1⁄12 in. long, glabrous inside, woolly outside, persisting at the top of the fruit. Styles three or four, united below the middle. Flower-stalks woolly when young. Fruits egg-shaped, 3⁄4 to 11⁄4 in. long, up to 7⁄8 in. wide, russet-brown, minutely wrinkled. Bot. Mag., n.s., t. 259.

Native of W. Szechwan, China; introduced by Wilson for Messrs Veitch in 1903. It has larger fruit than any of the Aria section except S. lanata and in foliage is one of the finest. The bark of the branchlets is very dark and its winter buds are remarkably large. It is quite hardy but, on account of its early growth, is liable to injury by spring frosts. The fruits have no beauty but the foliage occasionally turns a good red.