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 tannin, and vitamin C. The seeds contain glycoside. "Sorbus aucuparia" has a chromosome number of 2"n"=34. "Sorbus aucuparia" is found in five subspecies: It can be found in almost all of Europe and the Caucasus up to Northern Russia and Siberia, but it is not native to Southern Spain, Southern Greece, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands, the Azores, and the Faroe Islands. The species was introduced as an ornamental species in North America. It is widespread from plains to mountains up to the tree line where it grows as the only deciduous tree species among krummholz. In the Alps it grows