A bushy-headed shrub; young wood thickly covered with grey felt. Leaves 11⁄2 to 31⁄2 in. long, 5⁄8 to 11⁄4 in. wide, narrowly oval or oblanceolate, shallowly toothed, bright green and glabrous above, covered beneath with a close grey felt, tapering at the base to a stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄3 in. long. Flowers 1⁄3 in. across, white, with rose-coloured anthers, produced in small downy corymbs. Fruits top-shaped or roundish, 1⁄3 in. long, blue-black.
A hybrid between S. aria and Aronia melanocarpa, of unknown garden origin. Its affinity with A. melanocarpa is shown in the presence of glands along the upper surface of the midrib, and in the blackish fruits. It is an interesting and pretty round shrub, often made into a small tree by grafting on standards of mountain ash or hawthorn. It used to be called “Pyrus alpina” in gardens.