Whitebeam

Back in August (here) I wrote that I had set myself the task of being able to identify every kind of wild tree. I also wanted to find at least one specimen of each. Well, that challenge continues and, yesterday, I ticked another off my list - the Whitebeam.

Image: Vicki Wagner 

I was really pleased with this find because, although Whitebeam (Sorbus aria) is native to southern England and widely planted in parks and gardens, it is quite rare to find in the wild these days. 

In many ways, it looks similar to its cousin, the Hornbeam (which I wrote about here). However, while the Hornbeam's leaves are green on both sides, the Whitebeam has a pale whitish underside that is also covered in very fine hairs. Here's a comparison - first Hornbeam upper leaf and lower and then Whitebeam:

It's a subtle difference to be sure, which makes my find all the more rewarding. 

Whitebeam timber is fine-grained, hard and white - hence the name - and was traditionally used to make beams and for wood turning and fine joinery, gun stocks, cogs and wheels, and axles and shafts for carts and wagons. The tree has a curious habit of always straining towards the sun, which can result in corkscrew trunks.

A mature tree can grow to around 50 feet in height and live for up to 200 years.  

Image from the Bugwoman London blog (here).

Whitebeam is hermaphroditic and each flower contains both male and female reproductive parts. The five-petalled flowers appear in clusters in May, and develop into scarlet berries in late summer. The fruits, which are known as 'chess apples' in north-west England, are edible when nearly rotten. They can be used, like their cousins Rowan berries, to make jams and jellies.

I haven't heard a lot of folklore connected with Whitebeam although the excellent Plant-Lore website (see here) records this story from Dorset: 

'Two old ladies told me that their father permitted them to eat the young leaves of whitebeam. These had an almond-like flavour. However, they were permitted to eat only seven at a time as the leaves contained traces of a deadly poison.' 

Some excellent parenting there (the leaves and berries do contain small amounts of hydrogen cyanide).

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Whitebeam is that it regularly cross-breeds with other members of the Sorbus (Rose) family such as Rowan trees and Service trees. This means that there are many sub-species around, some of which are confined to very small areas. The Arran Whitebeam (Sorbus arranensis) grows only on the Isle of Arran and Wilmott’s Whitebeam (Sorbus wilmottiana) grows only in woodland and scrub in the Avon Gorge and has fewer than 100 individual trees. Then there's the Cheddar Whitebeam (Sorbus cheddariensis) that lives only in the Cheddar Gorge in Somerset. There are only 22 of those left. And the rarest of all, the Ship Rock Whitebeam (Sorbus parviloba), is known from only one specimen on the Herefordshire/Gloucestershire border. No wonder the IUCN describe it as ‘critically endangered.

But my favourite has to be the 'No Parking Whitebeam' (Sorbus admonitor).The first example of this species was discovered in a lay-by in Devon with a ‘no-parking’ sign nailed to it. The scientist who identified it gave it the Latin name ‘admonitor‘ (meaning ‘to tell off’). There are about 100 of these trees, which is almost a healthy population in the weird and wonderful world of Whitebeams.

What a great find!