service treen.

1510 J. Stanbridge Vocabula (new ed.) sig. D.j Arbutus, a seruys tree.

1542 T. Elyot Bibliotheca Aesculus, a tree not moche vnlyke an oke, but that he is smother... I wote not what it shulde be in englyshe, except it be the seruyce tree.

1548 W. Turner Names of Herbes sig. G.iiij^v The third kinde that I knowe of sorbus and the fourth kynde in Plinie is called sorbus torminalis, in englishe a seruice tree.

1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie lxxix. 230 Some haue vsed in times past, to put a dogges haires into an Ash or Ceruisetree.

1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique iii. xl. 507 Such is the force of the ceruise tree, to raise vp, renew and reuiue a qualified and appeased madnes.

1629 J. Parkinson Paradisi in Sole iii. viii. 567 Here are two kindes of Seruice trees that are planted in Orchards with vs, and there is also a wilde kinde like vnto the later of them... And there is another kinde also growing wilde abroad in many places, taken by the Country people where it groweth, to be a Seruice tree, and is called in Latin, Aria Theophrasti.

1664 J. Evelyn Sylva ix. 28 The Service-tree is rais'd of the Sorbs, or Berries, which being ripe (that is) rotten about September, may be sown like Beech-mast.

1749 Lady Luxborough Let. 23 Mar. in Lett. to W. Shenstone (1775) 90 The walk which is bordered by service-trees.

1859 W. S. Coleman Our Woodlands 55 In the southern parts of the kingdom, we may often meet with the Service Tree.

1862 W. A. Miller Elements Chem. (ed. 2) III. 410 An acid derived from the berries of the service-tree.

1897 W. T. Fernie Herbal Simples (ed. 2) 352 The fruit of the Service tree (or Witten Pear-tree) resembles a small pear, and is considered in France very useful for dysentery.

1911 J. Nisbet Elements Brit. Forestry 17 Fruit a berry (sorb) or small pome (miniature Apple), growing in corymbs at the ends of short leafy branches (Service-trees).

1955 G. Grigson Englishman's Flora (1996) 177 ‘Service Tree’ is the introduced Sorbus domestica, anciently grown in English gardens.

1960 Geogr. Rev. 50 8 The American mountain ash, Sorbus americana, is known as service tree,..dogberry, quickbeam, [etc.].

1994 P. Roper in Brit. Wildlife 6 14/1 Service trees are included, with the red- or crimson-berried rowans and whitebeams, in the genus Sorbus.

1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus ii. f. 12 Steles [of arrows] be made of dyuersewoodes..as..Seruis tree [etc.].

1702 R. Neve Apopiroscopy 33 By this Method, the Violet Wood which Dyers use, will be Stained Black as Ebony;..Pear-Tree and Service-Tree will be of Reddish Colour.

1863 New Amer. Cycl. XVI. 528/2 Rollers, &c.: Box, lignum vitæ, mahogany, service tree. Teeth of wheels: Crab tree, hornbeam, locust, service tree.

1917 New Country Life Mar. 120/2 Class 5—very hard: dogwood, service tree, olive, laburnum, lilac, medlar, box, almond.

1597 J. Gerard Herball iii. 1290 Fielde Ash... Mathiolus maketh this to be Sorbus syluestris, or wilde Seruice tree.

1695 W. Westmacott Historia Vegetabilium Sacra 10 Ornus is the Wild Ash, which Pena and others make to be Sorbus Sylvestris, or the wild Service-Tree; 'tis called also Quicken-bean, or Quicken-tree.

1777 E. Jacob Plantæ Favershamienses 69 Cratægus torminalis, the common or wild Service-tree, or Sorb.

1831 On Planting (Libr. Useful Knowl.) viii. 103/2 The wild service-tree (torminalis).

1911 J. Nisbet Elements Brit. Forestry 17 Berries, usually 3 or 4, small, round or ovoid, brownish, with white spots..Wild Service-tree.

1996 R. Mabey Flora Britannica 205/1 There is a patch of close on a thousand wild service-trees, probably all suckers from a single parent and covering an acre of ground.

2015 Times (Nexis) 11 Sept. 33 This is the wild service tree. It is a tree of ancient woodlands.

1629 J. Parkinson Paradisi in Sole iii. 569 (caption) Sorbus legitima. The true Seruice tree.

1783 C. Bryant Flora Diætetica 214 The True Service-tree grows wild in the warmer parts of Europe, and it is also found in Cornwall, but many doubt its being a native of England.

1879 M. C. Cooke Woodlands iii. 54 The Service is sometimes found in woods; but this is not the true service-tree, which is very rare in Britain.

1996 R. Mabey Flora Britannica 206/2 What is sometimes called the true service-tree is a native of central and southern Europe, with rowan-like leaves and large pear-or apple-shaped fruits.

2016 J. Brindza et al. in K. Kristbergsson & S. Ötles Functional Properties Trad. Foods xv. 223 The true service tree usually grows in the tree form with height of 10-16m.

1785 H. Marshall Arbustrum Americanum 145 Sorbus americana. American Service Tree.

1876 Garden 14 Oct. 385/1 Woolly Service Tree (P. (Sorbus) lanuginosa).—A distinct fastigiate, robust-growing tree, with leaflets serrated, and clothed with cottony down beneath.

1925 W. J. Bean Ornamental Trees for Amateurs 102 From being first found in the Forest of Fontainebleau, it [sc. Pyrus latifolia] has been called the ‘Service tree of Fontainebleau’.

1998 Daily Tel. 26 Aug. 10/6 Among British whitebeams at risk are English, Welsh and Arran types and the Arran service tree—the last two peculiar to Arran.

2014 G. Hemery & S. Simblet New Sylva 170/1 Swedish whitebeam (Sorbus intermedia) and bastard service-tree (Sorbus x thuringiaca ‘Fastigiata’) provide robust street trees.

1793 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. IX. 328 They fixed branches of mountain ash, or narrow leaved service-tree above the stakes of their cattle, to preserve them from the evil effects of elves and witches.

1838 Mag. Nat. Hist. 2 172 Many willows, Alnus incana, the fowlers' service-tree, the hazel, ash, [etc.].

1859 W. S. Coleman Our Woodlands 59 The Mountain Ash is often called the Fowler's Service-tree.

1996 J. M. Paterson Tree Wisdom 241 Rowan was often known as the ‘fowler's service tree’, for its berries were used as a lure to catch birds.