Aria obtusifolia

Aria obtusifolia is a deciduous whitebeam, a small to medium tree or large shrub of the rose family (Rosaceae) belonging to the Sorbus aria aggregate and native to parts of Europe, where it grows on dry calcareous slopes, rocky ground and woodland margins. It bears simple, broadly elliptic to obovate leaves with a rounded or blunt tip, the upper surface green and the underside densely clothed in white felted hairs, giving the foliage a silvery flash in the wind that is the hallmark of the whitebeams. In late spring it produces flattened clusters of small creamy-white five-petalled flowers, followed in autumn by clusters of rounded scarlet to orange-red pomes speckled with lenticels. The fruits are edible when bletted and have long been used to make preserves and country wines, though the bitter seeds contain low levels of cyanogenic glycosides and are best avoided.