Sorbus vilmorinii (mountain slopes, roadsides, mixed forests along river banks, grasslands, bamboo thickets). "Sorbus vilmorinii" was described based on a specimen in cultivation that was an apomictic microspecies. However, almost indistinguishable specimens are diploid and frequent in the wild. Also hybrids are common in the wild. In cultivation, this plant provides a long season of interest as an elegant, compact tree which can be grown in smaller gardens. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Like all rowans the fruit can be cooked and used to make bitter jellies or marmalades. Sorbus vilmorinii Sorbus vilmorinii, the Vilmorin's rowan
Sorbus aucuparia birds and are thus propagated by being passed intact in their droppings. The fruit are eaten by about 60 bird species and several mammals. They are liked particularly by thrushes and other songbirds, and are also eaten by cloven-hoofed game, red fox, European badger, dormouse, and squirrel. Fruit of "S. aucuparia" are used as a food source by migratory birds in winter, including Bohemian waxwing, spotted nutcracker, and redwing. Cloven-hoofed game also excessively browse foliage and bark. The plant roots can be found in symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal and less commonly with ectomycorrhizal fungi. It is usually later superseded by