Species
+

Cormus domestica (L.) Spach

Service-tree, Service-tree (EN), Sorb Tree, Speierling (DE)

Climate known 57 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Cormus domestica, commonly known as service tree or sorb tree, is a species of tree in the rose family (Rosaceae). Its continuous range includes much of Europe as well as northern Anatolia, but isolated populations have been found in the Atlas Mountains of Northwest Africa, and east into the Caucasus and northwestern Iran. It may be called the true service tree, to distinguish it from the wild service tree. It is commonly classified as the only species in the monotypic genus Cormus, although the synonym Sorbus domestica continues to be used.

Text from Wikipedia, “Cormus domestica”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Cormus

Cormus is the appearance of a plant that belong to Cormophyte. In cormus, the vegetative apparatus is no longer a thallus, such as algae, that cannot be distinctly differentiated. The structure of cormus can be easily differentiated into its roots, stems, and leaves.

Text from Wikipedia, “Cormus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Rosaceae
Described by
(L.) Spach
Native to
Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia +17
Wild records
1609 in range· 1243 open

At a glance

Warmest month
25°C
Jul, mean day; nights 15 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
830mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 87 mm (CHELSA)
Light
8–39DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January and April to June in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 830 mm a year, wettest October at 87 mm, driest February at 55 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 8 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -7.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Cormus domestica var. aucubifolia Lavallée; Cormus domestica var. maliformis Lavallée; Cormus domestica var. microcarpa Lavallée; Cormus domestica var. monstrosa Lavallée; Cormus domestica var. paradisiaca Lavallée and 44 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January and April to June in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (603 mm of 830 mm) takes 8 months, September to January and April to June. Mean temperature moves 16.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to July and October to December.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 830 mm a year, wettest October at 87 mm, driest February at 55 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

830 mm a year at the habitat, 603 mm of it September to January and April to June. Wettest month October at 87 mm, driest February at 55 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 643 mm to 1088 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

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

Light Open sky over the habitat: 8 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 8 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 5, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor -7.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -7.4 °C, the absolute minimum -17.6 °C, about 62 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 0.7 °C in January (across the envelope cells -2.9 °C to 3.0 °C), warmest day 24.8 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -7.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 8 °C in Jan to 25 °C in Jul; mean night from 1 °C in Jan to 15 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 830 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1429 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -17.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost31.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)-17.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 8–39RH 57–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1429 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C8 / 3–109 / 5–1112 / 9–1415 / 13–1719 / 17–2122 / 20–2525 / 23–2825 / 23–2821 / 19–2417 / 14–1911 / 8–148 / 4–11
Night °C1 / -3–31 / -3–33 / 0–55 / 3–89 / 7–1113 / 11–1515 / 13–1815 / 13–1812 / 10–159 / 6–124 / 1–72 / -2–4
Rain mm70 / 45–9055 / 39–7158 / 41–7571 / 51–9878 / 60–10463 / 39–8455 / 19–7759 / 36–7772 / 53–11287 / 64–13380 / 56–12282 / 53–110
DLI9 / 6–1415 / 12–2023 / 19–2931 / 28–3636 / 33–4139 / 35–4539 / 35–4634 / 30–4027 / 21–3017 / 13–2111 / 7–158 / 5–12
RH %65 / 58–6862 / 58–6560 / 56–6259 / 56–6159 / 56–6158 / 54–6057 / 53–5958 / 54–6060 / 57–6263 / 60–6565 / 60–6866 / 59–69

Each figure is the median across the 1429 grid cells holding the 1607 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 849:3670 (47.525, 3.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -17.6 °C, 1st-percentile night -7.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1429 distinct grid cells holding the 1607 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 849:3670 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 47.50_3.750, lapse-corrected -93 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 176 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAustria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Corse, France, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Sicilia, Yugoslavia, Krym, Algeria, Morocco, North Caucasus· introduced: Great Britain, Baleares, Portugal, Sardegna, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Cyprus, Turkey, New South Wales
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker44.185, 5.064 · in the densest population, 758 records (47% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1609 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 1243 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 5 km away. 24 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1609 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cormus domesticaCormus domesticaCormus domesticaCormus domesticaCormus domesticaCormus domesticaCormus domesticaCormus domestica

Photographs: (c) coenobita, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Francesco Santoro, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Greg Tasney, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Cormus domestica, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Ethnobotany of the Himalayas: Safeguarding Medical Practices and Traditional Uses of Kashmir Regions
Mudasir Nazir Bhat, Bikarma Singh, Opender Surmal, Bishander Singh (2021) · Biology
Changes in the proteomics and metabolomics profiles of Cormus Domestica (L.) fruits during the ripening process
Maria Tartaglia, Daniela Zuzolo, Antonello Prigioniero, Maria Antonietta Ranauda (2024) · BMC Plant Biology
Climate Change Alters Elevational Distribution Patterns of Cormus domestica Habitat
Qianjiang Li, Z. Li, Hui Li, Bohao He (2026) · Ecology and Evolution
On streamlining the Ukrainian names of plant. Information 13. Taxonomic diversity and names for subtropic fruit plants of the Khorol Botanical Garden collection
V. M. Mezhenskyj, L. O. Mezhenska, Volodymyr KRASOVSKYI, Taisiya CHERNIAK (2022) · Plant varieties studying and protection
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 196 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.