Tree of the Month – February

This elegant service tree at Tatton Park in Cheshire, found by Tree Register volunteer John Weightman in October 2025, turns out to have been propagated from one of five bushes recorded by Tim Rich and others in 1983 on the limestone pavement of Warton Crag in Lancashire. These resemble the widespread Orange-berried Service but the berry is brown, not orange.

This really is a tree without a name – even the genus name is undecided at present, having moved from Sorbus into Karpatiosorbus and now seeming likely to be moved again in Aria. Conveniently, the Tree Register website allows you to search for a tree by its species name alone, or by just part of this name, so that entering ‘croceocarpa’ will give you the Orange-berried Service, whatever genus it sits in. To find this tree just enter ‘Warton Crag’ in the Quick Search field and it will give you this one very special tree.
Owen Johnson MBE VMM
(Photo: John Weightman)