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Features

Tree

Leaf

Blossom

Fruit

  Latin name Sorbus domestica
  Family Rosaceae (rose family)
  Distribution From Eastern Spain across Southeastern Europe, from the Balkan Peninsula to Asia Minor
  Height 10 to 20 m in the open
  Age 200 to 400 years
  Roots Heart root system, with main roots branching into the ground steeply and deeply.
  Bark Branches olive-green to reddish-brown, after 6 years distinctly fissured, scaly grey bark
  Leaves Up to 22 cm long, alternate, odd-pinnate with 13 to 21 leaflets. Autumnal colouring yellow to orange.
  Flowers Up to 10 cm wide cone-shaped raceme of 35 to 75 fragrant, white, 15 mm large, 5-petalled individual flowers
  Flowering period May to June
  Fruits Depending on the variety, pear- to apple-shaped, greenish-yellow and on the sunlit side brightly red fruits
  Fruiting period From September
  Alternative names orb tree, sorb, whitty pear

 

Sorbus domestica

The service tree has been cultivated in the Mediterranean region since ancient times. The Romans have spread the tree throughout Central Europe, and Charlemagne explicitly recommended its cultivation in the "Capitulare de villis" ordinance. Thereby, the service tree became a widely cultivated plant for wood and fruit in the Middle Ages.

Today, the service tree is rare and endangered in the wild. It grows slowly, requires much light and warmth, is competitively weak, and susceptible to browsing by wildlife.

In the area from Basel to Schaffhausen, there are about 100 service trees, of which at least 60 are protected in the forests of Schaffhausen. This dry-warm, calcareous area provides suitable conditions for Sorbus species, and therefore, the canton of Schaffhausen bears a great responsibility for their conservation and restoration. Pro Natura has launched the SORBUS project to expand the population in this region through new plantings.

The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) contributes to the protection of the service tree by researching propagation techniques in their experimental garden for this tree species already since 1985.

Ecology

The flowers of the service tree produce plenty of nectar, which is mainly used by bees, butterflies, and hoverflies. Nevertheless, fruits are mostly formed without pollination. Birds love the fruits of the service tree and preferably consume them in winter when they hang overripe in the trees. Birds are also the main dispersers because the seeds pass through the digestive tract undamaged and only germinate properly after this procedure. Moreover, the service tree provides plenty of space for hiding and nesting.

Wood

The service tree has a beige to reddish sapwood and often a brownish contrasting, hard and tough heartwood. With a dry weight of 0.88 g/cm³, it is the heaviest European hardwood. It is valued in toolmaking, for the construction of musical instruments (bagpipes) and used for carving and wood-turning. Furthermore, it is traded as valuable wood for furniture and veneer under the name “Schweizer Birnbaum” (meaning Swiss pear tree).