Aria rupicola

Aria rupicola, commonly known as rock whitebeam,^[1] is a rare species of shrub or small tree best known from the British Isles but also reported from Norway, Sweden and Russia.^[2]

Aria rupicola
Rock whitebeam at the Trondheimsfjord, Norway
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rosaceae
Genus:	Aria
Species:	A. rupicola
Binomial name
Aria rupicola (Syme) Mezhenskyj
Synonyms
List Pyrus aria subsp. rupicola Syme Pyrus rupicola (Syme) Bab. Sorbus rupicola (Syme) Hedl. Sorbus scandica subsp. rupicola (Syme) Nyman Pyrus aria proles salicifolia (Myrin) Asch. & Graebn. Sorbus aria var. salicifolia Myrin Sorbus aria subsp. salicifolia (Myrin) Hedl. Sorbus salicifolia (Myrin) Prain

Reaching heights of 10 m,^[3] it grows in rocky woodland, scrub and cliffs, usually on limestone.^[3]

The species reproduces apomictically (asexually via cloned seeds) and was presumably created by autopolyploidysation of the common whitebeam proper (Sorbus aria s.str.). It contains a tetraploidal set of chromosomes (2n=4x=68).

Stace gives Aria rupicola the following characteristics:^[3]

• Leaves unlobed or lobed ≤1/20 of the way to the midrib.
• Leaves with a single style of teeth or, weakly, two styles of teeth.
• Leaves with 6 to 9 (rarely 4 to 10) pairs of lateral veins.
• Leaves mostly 1.6 to 2.4 times longer than wide.
• Leaves mostly widest in that half of the leaf furthest from the stalk.
• Leaves usually obtuse (rarely acute) at apex.
• Leaves have dense white hairs on lower surface.
• Fruits 10-15mm across, warty.

• 
  A young specimen
• 
  Back of a leaf
• 
  Upper surface of a leaf
• 
  Upper surface of a leaf
• 
  Twig and part of a leaf