Sorbus is a
genus of about 100–200 species of
trees and
shrubs in the Rose
family Rosaceae. Species of
Sorbus (s.l.) are commonly known as
whitebeam,
rowan,
service tree, and
mountain-ash. The exact number of species is disputed depending on the circumscription of the genus, and also due to the number of
apomictic microspecies, which some treat as distinct species but others group in a smaller number of variable species. Recent treatments treat
Sorbus in a narrower sense to include only the
pinnate leaved species of
subgenus Sorbus, raising several of the other subgenera to generic rank.
Sorbus is unrelated to the true ash trees which belong to the genus
Fraxinus, although the leaves are superficially similar.