Description

Leaves: Shiny dark green and hairless above with yellow-orange fall color; pale green and slightly hairy below; simple; alternate; somewhat resembling Fagus (beech); 2" to 4" in length, somewhat egg-shaped, tapering to a point, rounded base, unequally toothed, 6-10 pairs of veins; petiole 1/2" to 3/4" in length; deciduous.

Twigs/buds: Twigs red-brown and shiny, with gray lenticels. Buds oblong; lateral buds almost as long as terminal; some scales with dark margins and pubescence.

Flowers/fruit: Flowers perfect; white, 1/2" in diameter, in flat-topped corymbs containing 6 to 10 flowers; occur in May. Fruit a pome; mature fruit red-pink or orange-red; round to egg-shaped, 1/2" in diameter; ripening in fall (September to October); persisting after leaf senescence; maybe the most attractive fruit of the mountain-ash genus.

Bark: Gray-brown, marked with white or purple, smooth, attractive; lenticels visible when young.

Wood: Little information available.

General: Native to China, Korea and Japan. Small, pyramidal or oval tree, often growing up to 35' in height. Susceptible to fireblight and borer insects.

Landscape Use: A superior species that should be planted more often. Commonly cultivated. Simple leaves similar to alder and beech with nice fall color, while flowers and fruit are similar to European mountain-ash (S. aucuparia). Use as a specimen tree. Zones 3-7.

Cultivar: 'Redbird'.

Characteristics