''Hedlundia thuringiaca'' is a widely cultivated species of ornamental

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

. It is cultivated by

grafting Grafting or graftage is a horticulture, horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the roots ...

Description

It has purple-grey bark, which is smooth but begins cracking and flaking as it matures. The leaves are narrowly ovate to elliptic (in shape) long and wide. They are lobed, except at the very tip, the lobes become deeper towards the base, becoming toothed. The leaves are glossy dark green above and grey and hair underneath. In late spring, it flowers with dense clusters of 5 petaled white flowers, which are wide. After flowering, it produces a rounded, bright red berry which is wide.Allen Coombes

Taxonomy

It is a diploid hybrid between ''

Sorbus aucuparia ''Sorbus aucuparia'', commonly called rowan (, also ) and mountain-ash, is a species of deciduous tree or shrub in the rose family. The tree has a slender trunk with smooth bark, a loose and roundish crown, and its leaves are pinnate in pairs o ...

'' and the diploid ''

Aria edulis ''Aria edulis'', the whitebeam or common whitebeam, is a species of deciduous tree in the family ''Rosaceae''. The tree often forms new shoots around the trunk. Typically compact and domed, the plant has a few upswept branches and the leaves ha ...

''. It is rare in the wild but occurs at scattered sites across much of EuropeChester, M.; Cowan, R.S.; Fay, M.F.; Rich, T.C.G. (2007). Parentage of endemic ''Sorbus'' L. (Rosaceae) species in the British Isles: evidence from plastid DNA. ''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society''. 154(3): 291–304. (within Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Romania and Switzerland,) and Turkey. It has been introduced in Belgium and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, USA. It was first published in Memoranda Soc. Fauna Fl. Fenn. 93: 34 in 2017. GRIN (

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

and the

Agricultural Research Service The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area. ARS is charged with ext ...

) accepts it as ''×Hedlundia thuringiaca'' .

References

thuringiaca Hybrid plants Flora of Great Britain Flora of Ireland Flora of Middle Europe Flora of France Flora of Romania Flora of Turkey {{Maleae-stub