Sorbus domestica of "serve", from Old English "syrfe", borrowed from the Latin name "sorbus"; it is unrelated to the verb "serve". Other English names include sorb, sorb tree, and whitty pear—"whitty" because the leaves are similar to rowan (i.e. pinnate), and "pear" due to the nature of the fruit. Sorbus domestica Sorbus domestica, with the common name service tree or sorb tree (because of its fruit), is a species of "Sorbus" native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa (Atlas Mountains), and southwest Asia (east to the Caucasus). It may be called true service tree, to distinguish it from wild service
Sorbus × hybrida midrib as separate leaflets. All three polyploid species are apomictic species which breed true without pollination. "Sorbus" × "hybrida" is grown as an ornamental tree in northern Europe, and is locally naturalised in the British Isles. The cultivar 'Gibbsii' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Sorbus × hybrida Sorbus "×" hybrida, the oakleaf mountain ash, Swedish service-tree or Finnish whitebeam, is a hybrid species of whitebeam native to Scandinavia in Norway, eastern Sweden, and southwestern Finland, and locally in the Baltic States in Latvia. It is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 10–15 m tall with