Sorbus thibetica (Card.) Hand.-Mazz.

Trees, rarely shrubs, ca. 7(–10) m tall or more. Branchlets brown to grayish brown, white tomentose when young, gradually glabrescent, with few gray orbicular small lenticels; buds ovoid, 5–9 mm, apex acute to acuminate; scales imbricate, several, dark reddish brown, glabrous or sparsely pubescent apically. Leaves simple; petiole 3–10 mm, initially grayish white tomentose, subglabrous when mature; leaf blade dark green adaxially, broadly elliptic, elliptic-ovate, or elliptic-obovate, 9–15 × 4–9 cm, lateral veins (10–)13–16 pairs, nearly parallel and terminating in marginal teeth, prominent abaxially, abaxially gray tomentose, subglabrous when old, adaxially glabrous, base cuneate, rarely to subrounded, margin irregularly doubly serrate, apex acute to shortly acuminate. Compound corymbs terminal, 3–6 × 4–8 cm, 20–30-flowered or more; rachis and pedicels grayish white tomentose, glabrescent. Pedicel 5–9 mm. Flowers (0.8–)1–1.6 cm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, abaxially grayish white tomentose. Sepals triangular-lanceolate, 2–4 mm, apex acuminate. Petals white, spatulate, ovate, or obovate, 5–8 × 3.5–5 mm, adaxially grayish white tomentose near apex, apex obtuse. Stamens 15–20, shorter than petals. Styles 2, rarely 3 or 4, free or slightly connate at base, slightly longer than or nearly as long as stamens. Fruit scarlet, ovoid or obovoid, 0.9–1.2(–1.5) cm × 7–11(–13) mm, with 2, rarely 3 or 4 locules, sparsely small lenticellate; sepals persistent; seeds dark brown, obovoid or triangular-lanceolate, 6–8 mm, compressed. Fl. May–Jul, fr. Sep–Oct.

E. Himalaya (Nepal), China (Yunnan).

SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, N Myanmar].

2700 m

Dense forests on slopes or in valleys, rocky slopes, stream banks, shrubby thickets; 2400--3800 m.

Pyrus thibetica Cardot, Notul. Syst. (Paris) 3: 349. 1918; Aria thibetica (Cardot) H. Ohashi & H. Iketani; Sorbus atrosanguinea T. T. Yü & H. T. Tsai; S. wardii Merrill.

Sorbus thibetica (康藏花楸), the Tibetan whitebeam, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae, native to south western China and the Himalayas. Growing to 20 m (66 ft) tall by 15 m (49 ft) broad, it is a substantial deciduous tree. Like other whitebeams, the undersides of the leaves are white, giving a dramatic effect when the wind blows through them.

The more compact cultivar 'John Mitchell' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.