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
Sorbus aucuparia a light brown to reddish brown heartwood. It is diffuse-porous, flexible, elastic, and tough, but not durable, with a density of 600 to in a dried state. The roots of "S. aucuparia" grow wide and deep, and the plant is capable of root sprouting and can regenerate after coppicing. The compound leaves are pinnate with 4 to 9 pairs of leaflets on either side of a terete central vein and with a terminal leaflet. There are paired leaf-like stipules at the base of the petiole. The leaves are up to 20 cm long, 8 to 12 cm wide, and arranged