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Sorbus kurzii (Prain) Schneid.

Modern name

Sorbus kurzii (G.Watt ex Prain) C.K.Schneid.

Synonyms

Pyrus kurzii Prain

A tree up to about 25 ft high in the wild; branchlets slender, fairly densely lenticellate, downy when young; winter-buds slightly under [1/4] in. long, acute, reddish brown, glabrous. Stipules green, toothed, persistent. Leaves 2 to 3[1/2] in. long, with four or five pairs of leaflets; rachis not winged. Leaflets of leathery texture, about 1 in. long and [1/2] in. wide, broad-elliptic, acute and sometimes mucronate at the apex, sharply and finely toothed, often only in the upper half, dark green and at first sparsely hairy above, whitish green and glabrous beneath. Inflorescences about 2 in. long and slightly less wide, with sparsely white-hairy peduncles and pedicels. Flowers white, small; sepals triangular, reddish, glabrous. Styles five. Fruits about [1/4] in. wide, globose or slightly pear-shaped, at first red, becoming white flushed with pink.

This interesting species was described in 1906 from specimens collected in southwest Sikkim on a ridge near the frontier with Nepal. It was thought to be confined to that locality until found again in 1971 in adjacent parts of Nepal by the University of North Wales expedition, at altitudes around 10,500 ft. There is no record of plants having been raised from the seeds collected on that occasion, but it may be in cultivation from other sources.

S. kurzii is not closely allied to any other species, being distinct in its thick, glossy leaflets, which despite their small size are in only four or five pairs. It has in common with S. foliolosa (wallichii) that the hairs are white, not brown or fawn as in S. ursina and S. microphylla.


Genus

Sorbus

Other species in the genus