Sorbus sitchensis – Sitka mountain ash
Common Name
Sitka mountain ash
Family
Rosaceae
Scientific Name
Sorbus sitchensis
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
- Moderately Dry (MD)
- Medium (M)
Soil Nutrient Regime (SNR)
- Poor (P)
Hitchcock, C. Leo, and Arthur Cronquist. Flora of the Pacific Northwest: An Illustrated Manual © 1973. Reprinted with permission of the University of Washington Press.
Photo Gallery
General / Habitat
- Erect shrub or small tree 1-4 m tall
- Middle to alpine elevations
Key Identifying Characteristics
- Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compound leaves with 7-11 leaflets. Leaflets are rounded at tips and toothed mostly above the middle
- Flowers: round-topped clusters of small white flowers
- Fruit: red, berry-like, with whitish bloom
- Other: young growth has rusty hairs that aren’t sticky
Lookalikes
- western mountain ash (Sorbus scopulina)
- Grows in interior BC
- Young growth with white, sticky hairs
- Leaflets pointier at tips, with serration along almost whole length
- European mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia)
- 11-15 Pointed leaflets
- Young growth with gray hairs
- Orange fruit
External References
Sources
Douglas, G.W. et al (Editors). 1998-2002. Illustrated Flora of British Columbia, Volumes 1 to 8. B.C. Min. Environ., Lands and Parks, and B.C. Min. For., Victoria, B.C.
Pojar, J. and A. MacKinnon. 2014. Plants of Coastal British Columbia Including Washington, Oregon & Alaska. B.C. Ministry of Forestry and Lone Pine Publishing. Vancouver, B.C.