Sorbus intermedia 15 fresh seeds | Swedish whitebeam seeds. Swedish rowan

Swedish mountain ash or mountain ash intermediate (Sorbus intermedia)

A medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 10–20 m tall with a strong trunk, usually up to 60 cm, but sometimes up to 2–3 m in diameter. The bark is grey, brown when young. The crown is oval, with strong horizontal branches.

The leaves are alternate, simple, ovate. The leaf blade is green above and densely pubescent, with pale gray-white hairs below, 7–12 cm long and 5–7 cm wide, with four to seven oval lobes on each side of the leaf, widest near the middle, rounded at the apex and finely jagged edges. Autumn color ranges from dull yellowish to grey-brown.

The flowers are 15–20 mm in diameter, with five white petals and 20 yellowish-white stamens; they are formed in scutes with a diameter of 8–12 cm in May-June.

The fruit is oval, 15 mm long and 10 mm in diameter, orange-red to red, ripening in September. The fruit is dry and is eaten by thrushes and waxwings, which spread the seeds.

In landscape design, intermediate rowan is used both in single plantings and in mixed groups, in group plantings in the foreground and background. Rowan goes well in plantings with spruce, pine, fir and some deciduous trees. Rowan trees are very good against the background of ash and linden trees, white willow or black poplar. They go well in plantings with barberries, spirea, viburnum and other deciduous shrubs.

It is undemanding to soils, but prefers medium loamy soils with slightly acidic and neutral reaction conditions.

USDA Hardiness Zone: 3 (-40°C to -34°C).