- Source: Hedlundia thuringiaca
Hedlundia thuringiaca is a widely cultivated species of ornamental shrub. It is cultivated by grafting.
Description
It has purple-grey bark, which is smooth but begins cracking and flaking as it matures. The leaves are narrowly ovate to elliptic (in shape) 10 cm (3.9 in) long and 6 cm (2.4 in) wide. They are lobed, except at the very tip, the lobes become deeper towards the base, becoming toothed.
The leaves are glossy dark green above and grey and hair underneath. In late spring, it flowers with dense clusters of 5 petaled white flowers, which
are 1.2 cm (0.5 in) wide. After flowering, it produces a rounded, bright red berry which is 1 cm (0.4 in) wide.
Taxonomy
It is a diploid hybrid between Sorbus aucuparia and the diploid Aria edulis. It is rare in the wild but occurs at scattered sites across much of Europe (within Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Romania and Switzerland,) and Turkey.
It has been introduced in Belgium and Illinois, USA.
It was first published in Memoranda Soc. Fauna Fl. Fenn. 93: 34 in 2017.
GRIN (United States Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Service) accepts it as ×Hedlundia thuringiaca (Nyman) Sennikov & Kurtto.
