Aria meyeri, or Meyer's whitebeam,Blaich, G. (n.d.). Sorbus meyeri S.HAMMEL & HAYNOLD. Retrieved August 13, 2026, from https://guenther-blaich.de/pflseite.php?par=Sorbus+meyeri&abs=pflfmros&lan=x&grp=a is an apomictic species of tree in the family Rosaceae endemic to Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, Germany. It is extremely rareSorbus meyeri S. Hammel & Haynold. (n.d.). Botanischer Informationsknoten Bayern (BIB). Retrieved August 13, 2026, from https://daten.bayernflora.de/de/info_pflanzen.php?taxnr=36431&suchtext=&g=&de=&prev=prevMeyer, T. (n.d.). Meyers Mehlbeere (Sorbus meyeri S. Hammel & Haynold). Blumen in Schwaben. Retrieved August 13, 2026, from https://www.blumeninschwaben.de/Zweikeimblaettrige/Rosengewaechse/blatt_regel.htm#Meyers%20Mehlbeere and vulnerable to extinction.
Description
Vegetative characteristics Aria meyeri is an up to 15 m tall occasionally multi-trunked tree or shrub with initially smooth and later fissured greyish brown bark. The trunk circumference at 150 cm height is 90 cm. The petiolate, slightly lobed leaves with a dentate margin are 8–10 cm long, and 5.4–6.6 cm wide. The abaxial leaf surface bears white pubescence. Generative characteristics The 5.5–8.5 cm wide inflorescence bears 30–55 white, 1.6–1.7 cm wide flowers. The flower has 20 white, 5–7 mm long stamens with cream-coloured anthers. The faintly green styles are partially fused. The 12–13 mm long, bright red, oval fruit with up to 170 lenticels bears brown, 5.5 mm long, 2.5 mm wide, and 2 mm high seeds. Cytology It is triploidSennikov, A. N., & Kurtto, A. (2017). A phylogenetic checklist of Sorbus s.l. (Rosaceae) in Europe. Memoranda Societatis pro Fauna et Flora Fennica, 93, 1-78. with a chromosome count of 2n = 51.Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung. (n.d.). Sorbus meyeri. Chromosomenzahlen Zur Flora Von Deutschland. Retrieved August 13, 2026, from https://chromosomes.senckenberg.de/search/items?full_text=Sorbus+meyeri&taxa-level-0=0&taxa-level-1=0&taxa-level-2=0&taxa-level-3=0&taxon_id=&fields%5B62%5D=0&fields%5B69%5D%5Bmin%5D=47.21353887141794&fields%5B69%5D%5Bmax%5D=54.79556787598423&fields%5B70%5D%5Bmin%5D=7.156210937500001&fields%5B70%5D%5Bmax%5D=13.923789062500001&fields%5B85%5D%5Bmin%5D=&fields%5B85%5D%5Bmax%5D=#searchResultsMeyer, N., & Hammel, S. (2023). Besondere Arten der Gattung Sorbus: Bemerkungen zu den Eigenheiten der Gattung Sorbus in Baden-Württemberg. Karlsruhe.
Taxonomy It was first described as Sorbus meyeri by Steffen Hammel and Bernd Haynold in 2014.Hammel, S., & Haynold, B. (2014). Sorbus meyeri – eine neue Art aus der Sorbus-latifolia-Gruppe. Kochia, 8, 1-13.Sorbus meyeri S.Hammel & Haynold. (n.d.). International Plant Names Index. Retrieved August 13, 2026, from https://www.ipni.org/n/77141459-1 It was moved to the genus Aria as Aria meyeri by Sergei Leonidovich Mosyakin, Mykola Mykhaylovych Fedoronchuk, and John McNeill in 2025.Mosyakin, S. L., Fedoronchuk, M. M., & McNEILL, J. (2025). Simplifying the nomenclature of Sorbus sensu lato: new nomenclatural solutions in Aria and Hedlundia (Rosaceae). Ukrainian Botanical Journal, 82(3), 206-224. The type specimen, which is held in the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, was collected on the 12th of May 2013 by Hammel and Haynold in the edge of a forest south of Külsheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany at an elevation of 380 m above sea level. Etymology The specific epithet meyeri honours the German botanist Norbert Meyer.
Distribution and habitat It is endemic to Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, Germany, where it occurs in an area of about 100 km2 in pine forests, secondary deciduous forests, forest margins, and pastures at elevations of 280–415 m above sea level.
Conservation It is a vulnerable species with a restricted distribution and a population of only about 250–999 individuals. Aria meyeri is not specially protected by nature conservation laws,Bundesamt für Naturschutz (BfN). (n.d.). Sorbus meyeri S. Hammel & Haynold. FloraWeb. Retrieved August 13, 2026, from https://www.floraweb.de/php/artenhome.php?name-use-id=35366 but some of the populations are grow within legally protected areas, or within a military training area. It is not known to be cultivated in any ex-situ conservation collections.
References