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Sorbus decora

species of plant

Specimen drawers, botanical folios and brass scientific instruments under study light
Science and natureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ966130
Source-derived summary

Sorbus decora, commonly known as the northern mountain ash, showy mountain-ash, Greenland mountain-ash, and dogberry, is a species of deciduous shrub or very small tree native to northeastern North America.

Description

Sorbus decora grows 4–10 metres (13–33 ft) tall. Its leaves are odd-pinnately compound, with 11–17 leaflets. Each leaflet is 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long and 1–2.5 cm (3⁄8–1 in) wide. All parts are hairless to slightly hairy. Flowers are borne in 125- to more than 400-flowered panicles 6–25 cm (2+1⁄4–9+3⁄4 in) across. Each flower is 5–7.5 mm (1⁄4–1⁄4 in) across and has five white petals 2.5–3.5 mm (3⁄32–1⁄8 in) long, 14–20 stamens, and carpels with 3–4 styles. The fruits (pomes) are bright red to orange-red and 4–7 mm (5⁄32–9⁄32 in) across.

Distribution and habitat

Sorbus decora occurs throughout the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province, the New England-Acadian forest region, the eastern Canadian boreal forests and Greenland. It cannot be found north of 62°15′N, which confines it the southern tip of Greenland, generally deeper up the western fjords, such as the Qinngua Valley.

Editorial summary

“Sorbus decora” enters the record as species of plant. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sorbus, decora and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewUseful for establishing the present vocabulary of the subject while preserving a route back to the evidence on which that vocabulary rests. The current 172-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Sorbus, decora and species.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Sorbus decora” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Sorbus, decora and species provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q966130. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
Verify next

Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Sorbus decora”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Sorbus decora primary sources, Sorbus decora archive and Sorbus research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sorbus decora”?
  2. Has classification or technical consensus changed since the cited source?
  3. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Sorbus decora” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.