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Sorbus domestica L.

Cornus domestica (L.) Spach

Eng.: Service tree.   Spa.: Serbal común.   Fre.: Sorbier, cormier.   Ara.: Rhibra, zarur.   Tam.: Isisnu.

Tree, deciduous, hermaphrodite, up to 15(20) m in height, ramose, irregular in shape. Trunk and thicker and older branches with a characteristic tessellate rhytidome (bark divided into plates, not caducous), greyish-brown. Young branches smooth, grey. New buds and shoots glabrous, very viscous. Leaves [(5)10-20 × (2.5)7-10 cm] alternate, compound, imparipinnate; 5-10 pairs of leaflets 1.5-5.5 × 0.5-2.2 cm, sessile, narrowly oblong, acute, rounded at the base, with a serrated margin in the upper 2/3 of leaflet —and entire at the basal 1/3—, glabrescent on the upper side and villous-lanate on the underside when young, and glabrous, bright green on the upper side and whitish on the underside when adult. Inflorescence terminal, corymbiform, with villous-lanate peduncles, that become glabrous on fruiting. Calyx lanate, whitish, with 5 oval-triangular sepals, 2-5 mm. Corolla glabrous, white, with 5 oval-suborbicular petals, about 6 mm long. Stamens 15-20. Styles 5. Fruit a pome, small, pear-shaped, 2-3 cm long, glabrous, green at first, then yellowish with reddish tints. Seeds 1-3.