Sorbus vilmorinii Sorbus vilmorinii Sorbus vilmorinii, the Vilmorin's rowan or Vilmorin's mountain ash (), is a species of flowering plant in the family Rosaceae, native to Sichuan, Tibet and Yunnan in China. It is a deciduous shrub or small tree, tall, with ferny leaves, each having multiple leaflets that turn purple in autumn (fall). The fruits, which can last through winter, are crimson, turning to pale pink. They are eaten by birds when there is no other food supply nearby. The specific epithet "vilmorinii" refers to the 19th century French horticulturalist Maurice de Vilmorin. It grows in a wide range of habitats
Sorbus mougeotii which differs only in slightly broader leaves. It is also closely related to "Sorbus intermedia" (Swedish whitebeam), which differs in having the leaves grey-white below and more deeply lobed, with the lobes spreading rather than forward-pointing, the fruit oval and less bright red, and in forming a stouter tree with a single trunk and more horizontal branching. All are tetraploid apomictic species which breed true without pollination, and ultimately of hybrid origin between "Sorbus aria" and "Sorbus aucuparia". It is widely grown as an ornamental tree in northern Europe, though usually unrecognised, misidentified as "Sorbus intermedia". Although described in 1858,