Service Tree of Fontainebleau
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| Sorbus latifolia (Lam. & Pers.) |
The Service Tree of Fontainebleau Sorbus latifolia (Lam.) Pers. (named by the French botanists Lamarck and Persoon), is indigenous only in the woodlands of Fontainebleau in France, from where it has been known since the early eighteenth century. These are ancient woodlands that are today in the protection of France's Office National des Forêts.
In the Fontainebleau woods, this Service Tree is called the 'Alisier de Fontainebleau' and forms a handsome tree about 10-15m tall; sometimes 20m. The leaf is about as broad at its base as it is long (latifolia being Latin for 'broad-leaved'), is whitish and downy beneath, and bears a series of small triangular indentations along its margin. The white flowers appear in May in clusters (corymbs). In the Autumn the tree bears multitudes of small (c.1cm) roundish fruit of a dull brownish-red colour dotted with large pale lenticels.
The tree is a today considered to be a hybrid between Wild Service Tree Sorbus torminalis and a member of the Whitebeam Sorbus aria group. It was at one time thought to be a variety of Sorbus intermedia; and was accepted as such by some during the nineteenth century due to the influence of authors such as J.C.Loudon, who based their approach on the authority of A. P. de Candolle. Meanwhile, the scientist and horticulturalist George Loddiges whom Loudon held in high regard, labelled his arboretum trees at Abney Park Cemetery in 1840 in the currently accepted way as Sorbus latifolia. Reflecting this considerable difference of opinion over the past two centuries as to its origins and identity, many synonyms have been used for the tree: Sorbus latifolia (Lam.) Pers. ; Crataegus latifolia Lam.; Pyrus latifolia (Lam.) Lindl.; P. intermedia var. latifolia (Lam.); and D.C.; P. edulis Willd., can all be found in botanical literature.
The Service Tree of Fontainebleau has occasionally been planted in ornamental or arboretum schemes of woodland planting or in gardens and parks throughout Europe and America since its introduction into European horticulture in about 1750. Since it is very fertile and grows true from seed, it has occasionally been able to naturalise in woodlands beyond its origins in the protected Fontainebleau woods, as at Abney Park Cemetery (an early Victorian garden cemetery in Stoke Newington, London).
Though rare, the tree has been noted for several commercial uses. For example, it's edible fruit were sold in open-air markets at Fontainebleau until the 1950s, and its homogeneous and long-lasting wood has proved to be valuable for certain uses.
