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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
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Introductory
SPECIES: Sorbus sitchensis | Sitka Mountain-Ash
ABBREVIATION :
SORSIT
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
SCS PLANT CODE :
SOSI
COMMON NAMES :
Sitka mountain-ash
western mountain-ash
Pacific mountain-ash
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name of Sitka mountain-ash is Sorbus
sitchensis Roemer [16,18,24,39]. A typical variety and S. sitchensis
var. grayi (Wenzig) Hitchcock are recognized [16,20,37]. Sitka
mountain-ash hybridizes with Greene mountain-ash (S. scopulina) [39].
LIFE FORM :
Tree, Shrub
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
COMPILED BY AND DATE :
Robin F. Matthews, October 1993
LAST REVISED BY AND DATE :
NO-ENTRY
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Matthews, Robin F. 1993. Sorbus sitchensis. In: Remainder of Citation
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Sorbus sitchensis | Sitka Mountain-Ash
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Sitka mountain-ash is distributed from Alaska south along the Pacific
Coast and through the Cascade Range to northern California and east to
northern Idaho and northwestern Montana [16,24,39].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES22 Western white pine
FRES23 Fir - spruce
FRES24 Hemlock - Sitka spruce
FRES25 Larch
STATES :
AK CA ID MT OR WA BC
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS :
CRLA DENA GLBA GLAC LACL MORA
NOCA OLYM WRST
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
1 Northern Pacific Border
2 Cascade Mountains
3 Southern Pacific Border
4 Sierra Mountains
8 Northern Rocky Mountains
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K001 Spruce - cedar - hemlock forest
K002 Cedar - hemlock - Douglas-fir forest
K003 Silver fir - Douglas-fir forest
K004 Fir - hemlock forest
K007 Red fir forest
K012 Douglas-fir forest
K013 Cedar - hemlock - pine forest
K014 Grand fir - Douglas-fir forest
K015 Western spruce - fir forest
SAF COVER TYPES :
205 Mountain hemlock
206 Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
207 Red fir
210 Interior Douglas-fir
211 White fir
212 Western larch
213 Grand fir
215 Western white pine
223 Sitka spruce
224 Western hemlock
225 Western hemlock - Sitka spruce
226 Coastal true fir - hemlock
227 Western redcedar - western hemlock
228 Western redcedar
229 Pacific Douglas-fir
230 Douglas-fir - western hemlock
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Sorbus sitchensis | Sitka Mountain-Ash
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
Sitka mountain-ash has light-weight, fine-textured wood [39]. It has
no commercial value [17].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Sitka mountain-ash berries remain on the trees until late winter, making
them available as winter forage. They are important in the diet of many
upland gamebirds, songbirds, and small mammals [14,26]. The twigs
supply browse for deer and moose [14]. Roosevelt elk also utilize Sitka
mountain-ash in the summer months [19]. Black bear and grizzly bear eat
the berries, leaves, and stems [21,27].
PALATABILITY :
Sitka mountain-ash provides fair browse for sheep and fair to poor
browse for cattle [38].
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
COVER VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
Sitka mountain-ash has been used for streambank rehabilitation in
Oregon and Washington [25].
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
Sitka mountain-ash is cultivated as an ornamental [17,26,39].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Foliar glycophosphate and broadcast 2,4-D applications caused severe
injury to Sitka mountain-ash in field experiments [28].
Sitka mountain-ash may produce allelopathic substances that inhibit
Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) seedlings [30].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Sorbus sitchensis | Sitka Mountain-Ash
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Sitka mountain-ash is a native, deciduous shrub 4 to 8 feet (1.2-2.4 m)
tall, or a small tree up to 20 feet (4.5-6.0 m) tall and 6 inches (15
cm) d.b.h. On rocky alpine sites at higher elevations Sitka
mountain-ash is often only 1 to 2 feet (0.3-0.6 m) tall. Leaves are
pinnately compound and are 4 to 8 inches (10-20 cm) long with 7 to 11
leaflets. Sitka mountain-ash bark is thin and smooth. Flowers are
borne in terminal corymbs with 15 to 60 flowers per head. Fruits are
small pommes [39].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Phanerophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Sitka mountain-ash mainly propagates by seed [32,38]. Mountain-ashes
(Sorbus spp.) begin producing seed at about 15 years of age and usually
produce a good seed crop every year. Seeds are mainly dispersed by
birds. Seedlings are hardy and are not very susceptible to insects or
disease, but may be injured by deer browsing [14].
Cooper [7] reports that American mountain-ash (S. americana), a closely
related species, sprouts from the stump when top-killed.
Propagation: Cleaned seeds have been stored for 2 to 8 years without
loss of viability. Seeds sown in the spring require 60 or more days of
previous stratification at 32 to 41 degrees Fahrenheit (0-5 deg C) in
moist sand, moss, soil, or other medium. Unstratified seed should be
sown in the fall or early winter. Germination is slower and not as
successful if seeds are not removed from the berries before sowing [14].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Sitka mountain-ash occurs in dry to moist, well-drained sandy loam or
other soils [38]. In southern and southeastern Alaska, Sitka
mountain-ash is an uncommon to rare forest tree, occurring from sea
level to timberline along the coast [39]. In coastal British Columbia,
Sitka mountain-ash is an indicator of moderately dry to fresh,
nitrogen-poor soils. It is common but scattered in British Columbia,
where it is found in montane to subalpine, open-canopy coniferous
forests. Its occurrence there increases with increasing precipitation
and elevation [22]. In the Pacific Northwest, it occurs in mid- to
upper-elevation coniferous forests and forest openings, and is
particularly widespread from 3,000 to 5,000 feet (900-1,515 m) on the
western slope of the Cascade Range [35]. Sitka mountain-ash is found at
elevations from 3,400 to 6,700 feet (1,030-2,030 m) in Montana [9]. In
the Bitterroot Mountains of west-central Montana, it is most often found
in moist, deep soils along creeks or streams [24].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Facultative Seral Species
Sitka mountain-ash is shade intolerant and persists in clearings [22].
It is present in many climax forests and plant associations
[2,3,12,15,34,36].
Sitka mountain-ash may inhibit growth of other vegetation [8].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Sitka mountain-ash flowers from June to July. Fruits ripen from
September to October and persist through late winter [14,39].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Sorbus sitchensis | Sitka Mountain-Ash
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
A closely related species, American mountain-ash, sprouts from the bole
when top-killed by fire [7]. Sitka mountain-ash may have this ability
as well, but Sitka mountain-ash sprouting has not been documented in the
literature.
Some areas in which Sitka mountain-ash occurs have long intervals
between fires [2,29]. Cool, wet maritime forests may have fire return
intervals of several hundred years or more [4].
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Initial-offsite colonizer (off-site, initial community)
Secondary colonizer - off-site seed
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Sorbus sitchensis | Sitka Mountain-Ash
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Specific information on the immediate effect of fire on Sitka
mountain-ash is not available in the literature. Since it is a small
tree with thin bark, it may survive light-severity fire but is probably
killed by severe fire. Mature mountain-ashes (Sorbus spp.) have been
eliminated by fires at various locations throughout the United States
and Canada [6].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Sitka mountain-alder was absent from burned sites but present on
abjacent unburned sites 29 years following fire in alpine heath and
krummholz communities in Washington [10].
Mountain-ash (Sorbus spp.) sprouts and seedlings appeared in the first
and second postfire years after spring and summer wildfires and spring
prescribed fires in Minnesota [1].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Sorbus sitchensis | Sitka Mountain-Ash
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Index
Related categories for Species: Sorbus sitchensis
| Sitka Mountain-Ash
|
 |
