Sorbus aucuparia and flexible wood has traditionally been used for woodworking. It is planted to fortify soil in mountain regions or as an ornamental tree and has several cultivars. The binomial name "Sorbus aucuparia" is composed of the Latin words "sorbus" for service tree and "aucuparia", which derives from the words "avis" for "bird" and "capere" for "catching" and describes the use of the fruit of "S. aucuparia" as bait for fowling. The plant is commonly known as rowan and mountain-ash, and has also been called Amur mountain-ash, European mountain-ash, quick beam, quickbeam, or rowan-berry. The names rowan and mountain ash may
Sorbus torminalis the bark on old trees. The species has sometimes been placed in its own genus, "Torminalis". Recent molecular phylogenetics confirms an earlier taxonomic opinion that the genus "Sorbus" as defined in the broad sense is not monophyletic, but the simple-leafed species traditionally included in "Sorbus" are a monophyletic group; this species would be included in a clade called "Aria" (genus "Aria" or "Sorbus" subgenus "Aria") as the species "Aria torminalis" Beck. It is a sexually reproducing diploid species that forms diploid and polyploid hybrids with members of subgenus "Aria" (whitebeams). A number of often very localised stable apomictic polyploid species