C1287: Sorbus alnifolia

Native of Japan, Korea, and of northern and central China, as far south as Anhwei, Shantung and Kiangsi; put into commerce by the German nurseryman Späth in 1892, but perhaps cultivated earlier. It is a member of the section Micromeles, and perhaps its finest representative in gardens; indeed few other simple-leaved species surpass it as an ornamental. ‘This species can fairly easily be identified by its slim, crowded buds and twigs, and many slender lateral branches which grow along the boughs often to within a foot of the main trunk.