The main drivers of microevolution in the genus Sorbus are interspecific hybridisation and polyploidy. The fate of new hybrid and polyploid taxa is determined by their mode of reproduction. Especially apomixis could be very advantageous for these new taxa. The S. aria agg. (subg. Aria) plays an important role within the genus since its members are involved in all hybridisation events and thereby is responsible for the substantial part of variation of the genus. Flow cytometry, molecular markers and multivariate morphological analyses were employed to evaluate the processes generating the variability in the S. aria group. Three ploidy levels were detected among species from subg. Aria in the Czech Republic. All of them could be found in the South Moravia, whereas only tetraploids occur in the Bohemia region. Moreover, most of the Czech taxa (5 out of 7) grow also only in the South Moravia which is therefore considered as a centre of diversity of the genus Sorbus in the Czech Republic. Flow cytometry seed screen revealed 7 modes of reproduction among the individuals from S. aria agg. A wide range of sexual and apomictic types of reproduction including reduced and unreduced gametes was detected. All of the diploid individuals are completely sexual. Among polyploid taxa, most of the species are...