Sorbus × hybrida by thrushes and waxwings, which disperse the seeds. It is a tetraploid species of hybrid origin between "S. aucuparia" (European rowan) and "S. intermedia" (Swedish whitebeam), the latter being a tetraploid triple hybrid between "S. aucuparia", "S. torminalis", and either "S. aria" or one of its close relatives. "S. intermedia" differs from "S. hybrida" in having the leaves less deeply lobed with no separate leaflets. Closely related "Sorbus meinichii" is a triploid or tetraploid species of hybrid origin between "S. hybrida" and "S. aucuparia" and differs in having the basal four to six pairs of lobes cut right to the
Sorbus aucuparia which is a hybrid with "Sorbus aria". The main pests for "S. aucuparia" are the apple fruit moth "Argyresthia conjugella" and the mountain-ash sawfly "Hoplocampa alpina". The rust fungus "Gymnosporangium cornutum" produces leaf galls. The leaves are not palatable to insects, but are used by insect larvae, including by the moth "Venusia cambrica", the case-bearer moth "Coleophora anatipennella", and leaf miners of the genus "Stigmella". The snail "Helix aspersa" feeds on the leaves. The plant can suffer from fire blight. Fossils of "Sorbus aucuparia" have been described from the fossil flora of Kızılcahamam district in Turkey, which is of early