It feeds on a variety of young leaves, leaf and flower buds, bark, fruits, certain petioles (e.g. Fagus longipetiolata), seeds (e.g. Prunus spp. and Sorbus spp.), and insect larvae.
Sorbus is unrelated to the true ash trees which belong to the genus Fraxinus, although the leaves are superficially similar.
Horticulturally, visitors find a large collection of species and hybrid Rhododendron, cultivars of Fagus sylvatica, as well as collections of Sorbus, Fraxinus and Magnolia.
Sorbus | Sorbus aucuparia | Sorbus vexans | Sorbus subcuneata | Sorbus torminalis | ''Sorbus'' subgenus ''Sorbus'' | Sorbus eminens | Sorbus admonitor |
Examples of apomixis can be found in the genera Crataegus (hawthorns), Amelanchier (shadbush), Sorbus (rowans and whitebeams), Rubus (brambles or blackberries), Poa (meadow grasses), Hieracium (hawkweeds) and Taraxacum (dandelions).
Tree species best represented in the arboretum are Chamaecyparis (120 taxa), Prunus (115 taxa), Picea (100 taxa), Quercus (85 taxa), Abies (60 taxa), Sorbus (55 taxa), Crataegus (50 taxa), Fraxinus (45 taxa), Tilia (45 taxa), Viburnum (40 taxa), Cedrus (20 taxa), and Cupressocyparis (20 taxa).
The larvae feed on the leaves of a wide range of woodland trees and plants, including Alnus, Sorbus and Vaccinium.
In North America (mainly U.S.) trees in the subgenus Sorbus subgenus Sorbus are often styled as mountain-ashes to convey their unrelatedness to true ashes.
The nocturnal larvae are polyphagous, feeding on the leaves of a variety of woody and herbaceous plants, mainly Sorbus, Quercus robur, Salix, Corylus avellana, Stellaria, Filipendula ulmaria, Alnus glutinosa, Rubus and Populus.
Two nationally rare plants occur at Rodney Stoke: Purple Gromwell (Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum) and the endemic Whitebeam (Sorbus anglica).
Sorbus intermedia (Swedish Whitebeam) is a species of whitebeam in southern Sweden, with scattered occurrences in easternmost Denmark (Bornholm), the far southwest of Finland), the Baltic States, and northern Poland.
Sorbus chamaemespilus (False Medlar or Dwarf Whitebeam) is a species of Sorbus native to the mountains of central and southern Europe, from the Pyrenees east through the Alps to the Carpathians and the Balkans, growing at altitudes of up to 2500 m.
Sorbus latifolia (the service tree of Fontainebleau; French: alisier de Fontainebleau) is a species of whitebeam that is endemic to the area around Fontainebleau, south of Paris in France, where it has been known since the early eighteenth century.
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Meanwhile, the horticulturalist, George Loddiges, whom Loudon held in high regard, labelled his arboretum trees at Abney Park Cemetery in 1840, as Sorbus latifolia, the currently-accepted binomial.
Sorbus mougeotii (Vosges Whitebeam or Mougeot's Whitebeam) is a species of whitebeam native to the mountains of central and western Europe from the Pyrenees east through the Alps to Austria, and north to the Vosges Mountains.
Sorbus vexans (bloody whitebeam) is a rare tree in the Rosaceae family.
Today the garden contains extensive plantings of exotic trees, including mature sequoias, cedars, palm trees, eucalyptus, bananas, lemons, oleanders, hibiscus, and magnolias, as well as fine specimens of Prunus, Quercus, Rosa, Sorbus and Viburnum species and varietals.