The October 2022 tour is up for now, at Tours | UBC Botanical Garden, with a link to Douglas Justice's blog, if you prefer to read it there: October in the Garden 2022 - UBC Botanical Garden. I don't know that I will ever distinguish these trees, though maybe with some effort at paying attention to details would help. There is a tree in my neighbourhood that I did decide one year looks like Sorbus koehneana, based on the pome colour and number of leaflets and long droopy stems. I saw this one last month when it wasn't in the blog I was looking for something else, and I found the label then. Yesterday, I didn't find the label and didn't remember the name, but it's in the blog; once I realized it could be on the south side of Lower Asian Way, I decided it was the one described as planted on a stump. This is the one in the ground in the Meyer Meadow. I posted Sorbus harrowiana last month when it wasn't mentioned, so I get to add some photos this month when it is mentioned, because I like it a lot - it has huge leaflets, and groovy stipules, which captured my attention last month, so I paid more attention to the fruits this time. In contrast is Sorbus setschwanensis, with teeny leaflets. I photographed these last month in the Wharton Glade, and yesterday, since it's mentioned in this month's blog.
Here are two pink-fruited mountain ashes. Sorbus vilmorinii. I like this enough that I can usually remember the name when I see it. This is Sorbus pseudovilmorinii, another favourite, on Upper Asian Way where I get to greet it by name on every visit. Back to white, this Sorbus bissetii has a red label named Sorbus sp. YU.14299, but this number shows up on Garden Explorer as the Collection number for the tree with this name, so it seems a decision has been made. The blog mentions the bare leaf stalks, where the mountain ash sawfly larvae have devoured the leaflets. Thanks to that nice garden visitor who photographed the label for me. There are definitely disadvantages to only using a mobile phone camera.
How about the red-fruited one I think of as a Christmas tree - Sorbus sargentiana, not far from the garden entrance. There is quite a bit of colour, but half is in shade. These mountain ashes at the end of the parking lot were not mentioned, but I posted them one year and then promptly forgot the names. So as a reminder to myself, what I think is Sorbus randaiensis on the left. I have no idea where I got that name. Someone must have told me - it's not on any list I have access to. I posted it with this name at September 2018 - Sorbus. and Sorbus commixta on the right. This one is on Garden Explorer. This is the Sorbus 'Joseph Rock' on the entrance plaza, doing its usually showy display. Aria will be next, but not today.
OK, Aria. These all needed new names after being split off from the mountain ash Sorbus genus. This the Aria yuana near the garden entrance, habit photo taken last month on Douglas's members walk. The pomes didn't look quite ripe enough to try tasting. Aria pallescens is on the south side of Upper Asian Way, and thanks to another garden visitor who photographed the label for me. Douglas mention that this species is related to Aria hemsleyi, which was featured in last month's blog. Here are some more photos of that. In an email, Douglas described the "conspicuously lenticillate surface, and a wide cup with elevated sides (derived from the base of the persistent calyx) surrounding the tip of the carpel and remnants of the style and stamens." Those characteristics seem evident in the A. pallescens above as well.
I took these photos on October 26, so it's fair enough to include them here. The two trees at the end of the parking lot look very different now. The one on the left, Sorbus randaiensis, have very red fruits with leaves still green. Sorbus commixta on the right has orange leaves and fruits.
