Rock Whitebeam

Common Name: Rock Whitebeam

Latin Name: Sorbus rupicola

Family Name: Rosaceae

There are numerous native whitebeam species in the British Isles. Only four of these species are sexual and the rest are apomictic. Apomictic species produce seed without fertilisation taking place; as a result the genetic material in the seed is identical to that of the parent tree and when it grows it will be a clone of the parent tree. Rock whitebeam is an example of an apomictic species.

Rock Whitebeam is a distinctive shrub or small tree. It grows in rocky woodland and cliffs habitats, usually on limestone in quite inaccessible places. It has a covering of dense white hairs on the back of the leaves and the top of the leaves are dark green, the berries are deep red with many small white lenticels. However, to distinguish between rock whitebeam and the common whitebeam fine leaf characteristics need to be examined.

There are small populations of rock whitebeam scattered throughout south-western, western and northern Britain. In the Yorkshire Dales National Park there are a number of very small populations on the limestone scars in the South of the National Park such as near Malham Tarn.