North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

I have a row of Sorbus domestica seedlings started from seed collected from some of the trees at Luther Burbank's plantings in Sebastopol, California.   Mine are extremely astringent, but any bump or bruise triggers something in the fruit that gets rid of the astringency very quickly.  A bruised fruit becomes edible within a few hours, though the flavor keeps changing if it sits for a full day or more.
I once discussed this tree with the late Larry McGraw of Sheep Rock, Oregon who had a number of old seedlings.  Larry was the most avid fruit explorer I've ever met.  He said the wood is hard enough to dull an ax very quickly, and he could only grow the trees from seed.  He had never been able to graft them successfully.  That fits with what I have experienced.  I would be interested to know how they are propagated in Germany.
=Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.
On Jan 5, 2007, at 2:46 PM, Hans Brinkmann wrote:

Hallo Matt,
in general all the Aronia x Sorbus x Hybrids are 2 to 5m tall.
All berries looking more like Sorbus berries, but each have different size,
color, juice and taste.
Edible Sorbus aucuparia  like  e.g. Konzentra or  Rossina or Klosterneuburg
are important e.g for marmalade production in Europe since a long time.

Aronia x Sorbus hybrids fruits are at   http://www.biotaimi.fi/
Then go to Pihlaja and finally to Pihlaja kasvatus-ja hoito - ohje
Information after clicking the first Pihlaja photo.

Nice page about Shipova : http://www.ars-grin.gov/cor/cool/sorbo.html

Do you know Sorbus domestica? It has 2 - 3 cm apple- or pear-shape fruits.
Some old trees in Germany have logs of more than 1 m in diameter.
The wood is one of the most highly priced wood in Germany.
Fruits are a must for the apple-wine-production.
We have some cultivars in Germany.