Rowan Rowan The rowans or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus "Sorbus" of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the mountains of western China and the Himalaya, where numerous apomictic microspecies occur. The name "rowan" was originally applied to the species "Sorbus aucuparia" and is also used for other species in "Sorbus" subgenus "Sorbus". Formerly, when a wider variety of fruits were commonly eaten in Europe and North America, "Sorbus" was a domestically used fruit throughout these regions. It is still used in
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