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An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Aria torminalis; photograph Jens Søgaard Hansen, CC BY, via GBIF CC BYJens Søgaard Hansen, CC BY, via GBIF

Aria torminalis (L.) Beck

Wild Service-tree · doubtful

Rosaceae · Denmark, Great Britain +28

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Aria torminalis (L.) Beck: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Bonnier & Layens.

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Aria torminalis, photograph Jens Søgaard Hansen, CC BY, via GBIFAria torminalis, photograph Jens Søgaard Hansen, CC BY, via GBIFAria torminalis, photograph Anine Nikolajsen, CC BY, via GBIFAria torminalis, photograph Jens Søgaard Hansen, CC BY, via GBIFAria torminalis, photograph Jens Søgaard Hansen, CC BY, via GBIF 6 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-10.4°C
Record low -20.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
23°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
882mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
5–35DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Aria torminalis is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is a tree commonly known as wild service tree, chequers, and checker tree, which is native to Europe, northwestern Africa, and western Asia.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Aria torminalis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Aria

In music, an aria is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompaniment, normally part of a larger work.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Aria", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (613 mm of 873 mm) takes 8 months, October to January and May to August. Mean temperature moves 17.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to February and April to July.

Rain

873 mm in the median year at the habitat, 613 mm of it October to January and May to August. Wettest month December at 83 mm, driest month April at 59 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 667 mm to 1,330 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 882 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 873 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 5 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 4, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -10.4 °C, the absolute minimum -20.4 °C, 3,446 frost nights in 44 years, 78.3 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -2.0 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -3.8 °C to 0.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 22.8 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -10.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -233 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Aria torminalis through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 23 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -2.0 °C; 873 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost30.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-20.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 5–35RH 59–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 552 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C4 / 2–75 / 3–89 / 7–1113 / 12–1417 / 16–1920 / 19–2223 / 21–2523 / 21–2519 / 17–2114 / 12–168 / 7–114 / 3–7
Night °C-2 / -4–0-2 / -4–11 / 0–34 / 3–58 / 7–911 / 10–1314 / 13–1514 / 13–1510 / 9–127 / 6–92 / 1–4-1 / -2–2
Rain mm71 / 49–10960 / 41–9170 / 50–10259 / 44–10679 / 60–12677 / 60–11879 / 57–12073 / 54–11671 / 54–10877 / 52–11974 / 54–11483 / 55–126
DLI7 / 5–1112 / 10–1619 / 17–2528 / 27–3233 / 32–3735 / 33–4035 / 32–4030 / 27–3621 / 18–2813 / 11–197 / 6–125 / 4–9
RH %67 / 64–7064 / 61–6762 / 59–6459 / 58–6159 / 58–6159 / 58–6159 / 57–6159 / 57–6262 / 60–6465 / 62–6767 / 64–7068 / 64–71
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 552 grid cells holding the 663 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 849:3753 (47.525, 7.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -20.4 °C, 1st-percentile night -10.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 552 distinct grid cells holding 663 of the 663 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 849:3753 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 47.50_7.500, lapse-corrected -233 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 330 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeDenmark, Great Britain, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Sicilia, Yugoslavia, Krym, Ukraine, Algeria, Morocco, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Iran, Lebanon-Syria, Turkey · introduced: Washington · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker47.552, 8.601 · in the densest population, 459 records (60% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 762 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 663 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 424 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 225 km away. 4 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 99 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 2988286 (Pyrenia torminalis (L.) Clairv.): Kew's file holds it as Pyrenia torminalis (L.) Clairv. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 10 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 3012143 (Lazarolus torminalis (L.) Borkh.): Kew's file holds it as Lazarolus torminalis (L.) Borkh. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 3012567 (Sorbus torminalis (L.) Crantz): Kew's file holds it as Sorbus torminalis (L.) Crantz (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 900 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 3013268 (Crataegus torminalis L.): Kew's file holds it as Crataegus torminalis L. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 14 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 3024854 (Azarolus torminalis (L.) Borkh.): Kew's file holds it as Azarolus torminalis (L.) Borkh. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 3026339 (Torminalis clusii (Roem.) K.R.Robertson & J.B.Phipps): Kew's file holds it as Torminalis clusii K.R.Robertson & J.B.Phipps (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 5363235 (Pyrus septiloba Stokes): Kew's file holds it as Pyrus septiloba Stokes (illegitimate under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 5365167 (Pyrus torminalis (L.) Ehrh.): Kew's file holds it as Pyrus torminalis (L.) Ehrh. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 87 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 5365172 (Hahnia torminalis (L.) Medik.): Kew's file holds it as Hahnia torminalis (L.) Medik. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 5370194 (Aria torminalis (L.) Beck): Kew's file holds it as Aria torminalis (L.) Beck (accepted); 135 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 5370257 (Torminaria torminalis (L.) Dippel): Kew's file holds it as Torminaria torminalis (L.) Dippel (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 1 record, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 5370258 (Torminaria clusii M.Roem.): Kew's file holds it as Torminaria clusii M.Roem. (illegitimate under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 9 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 5370260 (Torminaria vulgaris Schur): Kew's file holds it as Torminaria vulgaris Schur (illegitimate under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 7350100 (Sorbus torminalis (L.) Garsault): Kew's file holds it as Sorbus torminalis (L.) Crantz (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 52 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 8011513 (Malus torminalis (L.) Risso): Kew's file holds it as Malus torminalis (L.) Risso (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 8024506 (Mespilus torminalis (L.) Weber ex F.H.Wigg.): Kew's file holds it as Mespilus torminalis (L.) Weber ex F.H.Wigg. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 11 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 8204695 (Mespilus torminalis (L.) Weber): Kew's file holds it as Mespilus torminalis (L.) Weber ex F.H.Wigg. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 9930488 (Mespilus torminalis (L.) All.): Kew's file holds it as Mespilus torminalis (L.) Weber ex F.H.Wigg. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 10962951 (Sorbus torminalis f. genuina Kossetz): Kew's file holds it as Sorbus torminalis f. genuina Kossetz (invalid under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 762 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Aria torminalis, photograph 1did not loadAria torminalis, photograph 2did not loadAria torminalis, photograph 3did not loadAria torminalis, photograph 4did not loadAria torminalis, photograph 5did not load

Photographs: Jens Søgaard Hansen, CC BY, via GBIF (4); Anine Nikolajsen, CC BY, via GBIF.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Alyssum montanum Alyssum montanum Mountain alison Photo: CC BY, fmunozKoeleria pyramidata Koeleria pyramidata Prairie Junegrass Photo: CC0, author not statedFumaria vaillantii Fumaria vaillantii Few-flowered Fumitory Photo: CC BY, Bobo-XPotentilla verna Potentilla verna Spring cinquefoil Photo: CC BY, Lídia CarreraCampanula baumgartenii Campanula baumgartenii Campanulaceae Photo: CC BY, SaskiaPentanema squarrosum Pentanema squarrosum Cinnamon-root Photo: CC BY, osianshirley

Other Aria 24 in the reference

Aria bristoliensis Rosaceae Aria chamaemespilus Aria chamaemespilus Rosaceae Photo: CC BY, Robert Flogaus-FaustAria colchica Aria colchica Rosaceae Photo: CC BY, Владимир Дворкин Aria croceocarpa Rosaceae Aria danubialis Aria danubialis Rosaceae Photo: CC BY, Vladimír Fuka Aria decipiens Rosaceae Aria devoniensis Rosaceae Aria edulis Aria edulis Whitebeam Photo: CC BY, Vincenzo Lattanzi Aria eminens Round-leaved Whitebeam Aria graeca Aria graeca Grecian Whitebeam Photo: CC BY, Илья РуденкоAria hibernica Aria hibernica Irish Whitebeam Photo: CC BY, Jamie O'NeillAria lancastriensis Aria lancastriensis Lancashire Whitebeam Photo: CC0, author not stated all 25 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Torminalis glaberrima; Aria torminalis f. mollis; Azarolus torminalis; Cotoneaster torminalis; Crataegus torminalis and 77 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipedia

The record

Family
Rosaceae
Described by
(L.) Beck
Native to
Denmark, Great Britain, Austria +27
Wild records
762 in range · 424 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21GBIF's key 8072963 is Aria torminalis Bonnier & Layens; Kew accepts Aria torminalis (L.) Beck, and the name is cited as Kew accepts it; its synonyms and common names are read from GBIF's Aria torminalis (L.) Beck (5370194), which GBIF files under Torminalis glaberrima (Gand.) Sennikov & Kurtto (9410160) too
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-2190 read from GBIF's Aria torminalis (L.) Beck (5370194), which GBIF files under Torminalis glaberrima (Gand.) Sennikov & Kurtto (9410160)
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 10 records of GBIF's key 2988286, Pyrenia torminalis (L.) Clairv. (Kew's file holds it as Pyrenia torminalis (L.) Clairv. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 3012143, Lazarolus torminalis (L.) Borkh. (Kew's file holds it as Lazarolus torminalis (L.) Borkh. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 900 records of GBIF's key 3012567, Sorbus torminalis (L.) Crantz (Kew's file holds it as Sorbus torminalis (L.) Crantz (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 14 records of GBIF's key 3013268, Crataegus torminalis L. (Kew's file holds it as Crataegus torminalis L. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 3024854, Azarolus torminalis (L.) Borkh. (Kew's file holds it as Azarolus torminalis (L.) Borkh. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 3026339, Torminalis clusii (Roem.) K.R.Robertson & J.B.Phipps (Kew's file holds it as Torminalis clusii K.R.Robertson & J.B.Phipps (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 5363235, Pyrus septiloba Stokes (Kew's file holds it as Pyrus septiloba Stokes (illegitimate under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 87 records of GBIF's key 5365167, Pyrus torminalis (L.) Ehrh. (Kew's file holds it as Pyrus torminalis (L.) Ehrh. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 5365172, Hahnia torminalis (L.) Medik. (Kew's file holds it as Hahnia torminalis (L.) Medik. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 135 records of GBIF's key 5370194, Aria torminalis (L.) Beck (Kew's file holds it as Aria torminalis (L.) Beck (accepted)): GBIF occurrence search API; 1 record of GBIF's key 5370257, Torminaria torminalis (L.) Dippel (Kew's file holds it as Torminaria torminalis (L.) Dippel (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 9 records of GBIF's key 5370258, Torminaria clusii M.Roem. (Kew's file holds it as Torminaria clusii M.Roem. (illegitimate under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 5370260, Torminaria vulgaris Schur (Kew's file holds it as Torminaria vulgaris Schur (illegitimate under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 52 records of GBIF's key 7350100, Sorbus torminalis (L.) Garsault (Kew's file holds it as Sorbus torminalis (L.) Crantz (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 8011513, Malus torminalis (L.) Risso (Kew's file holds it as Malus torminalis (L.) Risso (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 11 records of GBIF's key 8024506, Mespilus torminalis (L.) Weber ex F.H.Wigg. (Kew's file holds it as Mespilus torminalis (L.) Weber ex F.H.Wigg. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 8204695, Mespilus torminalis (L.) Weber (Kew's file holds it as Mespilus torminalis (L.) Weber ex F.H.Wigg. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 9930488, Mespilus torminalis (L.) All. (Kew's file holds it as Mespilus torminalis (L.) Weber ex F.H.Wigg. (synonym under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 10962951, Sorbus torminalis f. genuina Kossetz (Kew's file holds it as Sorbus torminalis f. genuina Kossetz (invalid under Aria torminalis (L.) Beck)): GBIF occurrence search API; 17 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (12 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 5 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 47.50_7.500, lapse-corrected -233 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21found by its label; its IPNI identifier 721617-1 is Kew's for Aria torminalis (L.) Beck
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21read from the page's key and its other keys: 73 from GBIF's key 3012567
Wikimedia Commons commons nothing to reportasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 67 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…