Sorbus scopulina

Rocky mountain or cascade mountain ash, Rocky Mountain Or Cascade Mountain Ash

Family: Rosaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Rocky mountain or cascade mountain ash is a native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, northern California Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and Modoc Plateau in canyons, wooded slopes, and conifer forests at elevations of 1,000 to 2,800 meters. Flowering from June to July, this plant produces white flowers with small ovate petals 4 to 6 millimeters long arranged in clustered inflorescences. Growing 1 to 5 meters tall with shiny, sticky stem buds and sparse white hairs, it develops an upright, branching structure. Its compound leaves have 7 to 13 leaflets, each 3 to 8 centimeters long and 1.5 to 3 centimeters wide, with a shiny surface and lance-shaped to ovate form. The fruit is an eye-catching orange to red-orange berry 8 to 12 millimeters long, often with a subtle glaucous coating.

Habitat: Canyons, wooded slopes, moist places, conifer forest

Bloom period: Jun-Jul

Elevation: 1000-2800 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaR, SNH, MP

California counties: Siskiyou, Tulare, Modoc, Trinity, Placer, El Dorado, Butte, Humboldt, Lassen, Mariposa, Plumas, Nevada, Tehama, Shasta, Del Norte, Sierra, Mono, Amador, Madera

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.