Sorbus poteriifolia Hand.-Mazz., Anz. Kaiserl. Akad. Wiss. Wien & Math.-Naturwiss. Kl.

Shrubs small, 0.1–2.7 m tall. Branchlets dark grayish brown or grayish purple, terete, with indistinct elliptic lenticels, reddish brown pubescent when young, glabrous or subglabrous when old; buds ovoid, 4–6 mm, apex acute; scales dark purple, reddish brown pubescent. Leaves imparipinnate, 5–10 cm with rachis; petiole 1–2 cm; stipules lanceolate or linear, 3–5 mm, herbaceous, slightly reddish brown pubescent; rachis sulcate, slightly winged, reddish brown pubescent when young, subglabrous when mature; leaflet blades 4–6(–9) pairs, at intervals of 6–12 mm, pale green abaxially, dark green adaxially, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 1–2 cm × 6–9 mm, both surfaces glabrous, base obliquely rounded, margin sharply serrate except at base, apex acute or ± obtuse. Inflorescences corymbose or compound corymbose, 4–7 × 3.5–6 cm; rachis and pedicels reddish brown pubescent; bracts linear, 3–4 mm, slightly reddish brown pubescent. Pedicel 1–3 cm. Flowers 6–7 mm in diam. Hypanthium campanulate, abaxially glabrous. Sepals triangular, 1.5–2.5 mm, apex obtuse. Petals pink, ovate, 3–4 × 2.5–3.5 mm, adaxially pilose, apex obtuse. Stamens 20, ca. 1/2 as long as petals. Styles 4 or 3, shorter than or nearly as long as stamens, pilose basally. Fruit globose, 6–8 mm in diam.; sepals persistent, erect. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Sep–Oct. 2n = 68.

NW Yunnan [N Myanmar].

Stony slopes, low shrubby thickets in high mountain areas; 3000--4000 m.

Pyrus foliolosa Wallich var. subglabra Cardot; P. reducta W. W. Smith (1930), not Diels (1912).

Sorbus poteriifolia is a species of rowan native to south-central China and northern Myanmar. It is a shrub found at 3000 to 4000 m above sea level. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit as an ornamental.