Cormus domestica
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Cormus domestica, commonly known as service tree<ref name = GRIN>Template:Citation</ref> or sorb tree, is a species of tree native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa (Atlas Mountains), and southwest Asia (east to the Caucasus).<ref name=rotach>Template:Citation</ref><ref name=rushforth>Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins Template:ISBN.</ref><ref name=afm>Mitchell, A. f. (1974). A Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe, p 280. Collins Template:ISBN</ref><ref name=watsonia>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=bsbi73>Template:Cite magazine</ref> It may be called true service tree,<ref name=afm/> to distinguish it from the wild service tree (Torminalis glaberrima). It is the only species in the monotypic genus Cormus.
It is a deciduous tree growing to Template:Cvt (rarely to Template:Cvt) tall with a trunk up to Template:Cvt diameter, though it can also be a shrub Template:Cvt tall on exposed sites. The bark is brown, smooth on young trees, becoming fissured and flaky on old trees. The winter buds are green, with a sticky, resinous coating. The leaves are Template:Cvt long, pinnate with 13–21 leaflets Template:Cvt long and Template:Cvt broad, with a bluntly acute apex, and a serrated margin on the outer half or two thirds of the leaflet. The flowers are Template:Cvt diameter, with five white petals and 20 creamy-white stamens; they are produced in corymbs Template:Cvt diameter in late spring, and are hermaphrodite and insect pollinated. The fruit is a human-edible pome Template:Cvt called the "serviceberry" that is long, greenish-brown, and often tinged red on the side exposed to sunlight; it can be either apple-shaped (f. pomifera (Hayne) Rehder) or pear-shaped (f. pyrifera (Hayne) Rehder).<ref name=rotach/><ref name=rushforth/><ref name=afm/><ref name=watsonia/>
Ecology
Cormus domestica is generally rare, listed as an endangered species in Switzerland and Austria, and uncommon in Spain.<ref name=rotach/> In the UK, one very old tree that existed in the Wyre Forest before being destroyed by fire in 1862 used to be considered native, but it is now generally considered to be more likely of cultivated origin, probably from a mediaeval monastery orchard planting.<ref name=watsonia/> More recently, a small population of genuinely wild specimens was found growing as stunted shrubs on cliffs in south Wales (Glamorgan) and nearby southwest England (Gloucestershire).<ref name=watsonia/><ref name=bsbi73/> It is a very rare species in Britain, occurring at only a handful of sites. Its largest English population is within the Horseshoe Bend Site of Special Scientific Interest at Shirehampton, near Bristol.
A further population has been discovered growing wild in Cornwall on a cliff in the upper Camel Estuary.<ref name=bsbi125>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
It is a long-lived tree, with ages of 300–400 years estimated for some in Britain.<ref name=watsonia/>
One of the largest and probably oldest known specimens in Europe is on an educational trail near the town of Strážnice in the province of Moravia, Czech Republic. Its trunk measures Template:Cvt in circumference, with a crown Template:Cvt high and Template:Cvt across. It is estimated to be around 450 years old.<ref>The Service Tree. The Tree for a New Europe www.treeforeurope.com, accessed 4 May 2021</ref>
Cultivation and uses
The fruit is a component of a cider-like drink which is still made in parts of Europe. Picked straight off the tree, it is highly astringent and gritty;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> however, when left to blet (overripen) it sweetens and becomes pleasant to eat.<ref name=rotach/><ref name=bean4>Bean, W. J. (1980). Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles 8th ed., vol. 4. John Murray Template:ISBN.</ref> In the Moravian Slovakia region of the Czech Republic, there is a community-run museum<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> with an educational trail and a festival for this tree, with products like jam, juice and brandy made from its fruit.<ref>Hrdousek V. et al: "Oskeruše - strom pro novou Evropu" (tr. "Oskeruše - a tree for a new Europe"). Brazda, Hodonin, 2014, 240 pages; 550 pictures</ref>
The sorb tree is cited in the Babylonian Talmud in Ketubot 79a. The example refers in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic to a "thicket of zardəṯā" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).
In ancient Greece, the fruit was cut in half and pickled, which in Plato's Symposium (190d7-8) has Aristophanes use as a metaphor for the cutting in half of the original spherical humans by Zeus.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Service tree wood was often used for manufacturing wooden planes of all types used for working wood, because servicetree wood is fairly dense and holds a profile well.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Etymology and other names
The English name comes from Middle English serves, plural of serve, from Old English syrfe, borrowed from the Latin name sorbus; it is unrelated to the verb serve.<ref name=oed>Oxford English Dictionary</ref> 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 shape of the fruit. The name sorb, likewise, is from the Latin sorbus; because of its fruit and has nothing to do with the Slavic ethnic groups known as the Sorbs and Serbs.<ref name=oed/>
References
Further reading
- Wedig Kausch-Blecken von Schmeling: Der Speierling. Verlag Kausch, Bovenden 2000, 184 S.
- Hrdousek V. et al.: The Service Tree. The Tree for a New Europe. Brazda, Hodonin, 2014, 240 pages; 550 pictures
- Sorbus domestica - distribution map, genetic conservation units and related resources. European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN)