Sorbus minima Sorbus minima Sorbus minima, commonly known as the lesser whitebeam or least whitebeam, is a shrub belonging to the subgenus "Aria" (whitebeams) in the genus "Sorbus". It is endemic to Wales where it grows at a few sites in Breconshire. It is an apomictic microspecies which reproduces asexually and so is reproductively isolated from its close relatives such as the Swedish whitebeam, "S. intermedia". It probably originated as a hybrid between the rock whitebeam ("S. rupicola") and the rowan ("S. aucuparia"). It was first discovered in 1893 by Augustin Ley, the vicar of Sellack in Herefordshire who travelled widely in
Forests of the Iberian Peninsula form small enclaves or copses at the foot of rocky cliff edges or in the clearings of beech forests, on poor or acidic soils, accompanied by aspen ("Populus tremula") and mountain ash ("Sorbus aucuparia"). Birch may also grow in pure stands near the beech forests, in the mountainous areas on siliceous bedrock; these areas are typically of only small extent and generally quite patchy with sessile oak ("Quercus petraea") and trees of the genus "Sorbus". The silver fir ("Abies alba") is found on the cool, deep-soiled slopes of the flanks of the Pyrenees, from Navarre to Montseny, forming pure fir