The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus Sorbus of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the Himalaya, southern Tibet and parts of western China, where numerous apomictic microspecies occur.Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins . The name rowan was originally applied to the species Sorbus aucuparia and is also used for other species in the genus Sorbus.McAllister, H.A. 2005. The genus Sorbus: Mountain Ash and other Rowans . Kew Publishing.
Natural hybrids, often including S. aucuparia and the whitebeam, Aria edulis (syn. Sorbus aria), give rise to many endemic variants in the UK.
Names
The Latin name was borrowed into Old English as . The Latin name is from a root for 'red, reddish-brown' (/); English sorb is attested from the 1520s in the sense 'fruit of the service tree', adopted via French from Latin 'service-berry'. Sorbus domestica is also known as "whitty pear", the adjective whitty meaning "pinnate". The name "mountain-ash" for Sorbus domestica is due to a superficial similarity of the rowan leaves to those of the ash, not to be confused with Fraxinus ornus, a true ash that is also known as "mountain ash"."The similarities in the physical characteristics of all three types of tree [viz., Fraxinus excelsior, Fraxinus ornus, and Sorbus aucuparia] are pervasive enough that they are confused not only in folk terminology, but also in botanical nomenclature". Richard Stoll Shannon (1975). The Arms of Achilles and Homeric Compositional Technique Volume 36 of Mnemosyne, (Brill), p. 41. The English herbalist John Gerard in 1590 apparently fell victim to just this confusion, equating ornus and quickbeam (see below). Sorbus torminalis is also known as "chequer tree"; its fruits, formerly used to flavour beer, are called "chequers", perhaps from the spotted pattern of the fruit.
The traditional name rowan was applied to the species Sorbus aucuparia. The name rowan is recorded from 1804, detached from an earlier rowan-tree, rountree, attested from the 1540s in northern dialects of English and Scots. It is often thought to be from a North Germanic source, perhaps related to Old Norse (compare Norwegian , Danish , Swedish ), ultimately from the Germanic verb 'to redden', in reference to the berries (as is the Latin name ). Various dialectal variants of rowan are found in English, including ran, roan, rodan, royan, royne, round, and rune.
The Old English name of the rowan is , which survives in the name quickbeam (also quicken, quicken-tree, and variants). This name by the 19th century was reinterpreted as connected to the word witch, from a dialectal variant wick for quick and names such as wicken-tree, wich-tree, wicky, and wiggan-tree, giving rise to names such as witch-hazel"Witch-hazel" is much more commonly associated with Hamamelis. and witch-tree.Abram Smythe Palmer, Folk-etymology: a Dictionary of Verbal Corruptions Or Words Perverted in Form Or Meaning, by False Derivation Or Mistaken Analogy (1882), 443f.
The tree has two names in Welsh, and . may be translated as 'the lamenting fruit', likely derived from the Welsh tradition that the Cross of Christ was carved from the wood of this tree, and the subsequent association of the rowan's red fruit with the blood of Christ.
The Old Irish name is , reflected in Modern Irish . The "arboreal" in the Book of Ballymote associates the rowan with the letter , with the gloss "delightful to the eye () is , i.e. rowan (), owing to the beauty of its berries". Due to this, "delight of the eye" (vel sim.) has been reported as a "name of the rowan" by some commentators.
The most common Scottish Gaelic name is (), which appears in numerous Highland place names such as and . Rowan was also the clan badge of the Malcolms and McLachlans. There were strong taboos in the Highlands against the use of any parts of the tree save the berries, except for ritual purposes. For example, a Gaelic threshing tool made of rowan and called a was used on grain meant for rituals and celebrations.
In the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, this species is commonly referred to as a dogberry tree. In German, Sorbus aucuparia is known as the ('bird-berry tree') or as . The latter is a compound of the name of the ash tree () with what is contemporarily the name of the boar (), but in fact the continuation of a Gaulish name, (also the name for a dark reddish-brown colour, cognate with Greek , Old Norse 'brown'); like , seems to have referred to the colour of the berries; it is also recorded as a Gaulish name for the yew (which also has red berries), see also Eburodunum (disambiguation).
Botany
Rowans are mostly small deciduous trees tall, though a few are shrubs. Rowans are unrelated to the true ash trees of the genus Fraxinus, family Oleaceae. Though their leaves are superficially similar, those of Sorbus are alternate, while those of Fraxinus are opposite. Rowan leaves are arranged alternately, and are pinnate, with (7–)11–35 leaflets. A terminal leaflet is always present. The flowers are borne in dense corymbs; each flower is creamy white, and across with five petals. The fruit is a small pome diameter, bright orange or red in most species, but pink, yellow or white in some Asian species. The fruit are soft and juicy, which makes them a very good food for birds, particularly waxwings and thrushes, which then distribute the rowan seeds in their droppings. Due to their small size the fruits are often referred to as berries, but a true berry is a simple fruit produced from a single ovary, whereas a pome is an accessory fruit.
Rowan is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species.
The best-known species is the European rowan Sorbus aucuparia, a small tree typically tall growing in a variety of habitats throughout northern Europe and in mountains in southern Europe and southwest Asia. Its berries are a favourite food for many birds and are a traditional wild-collected food in Britain and Scandinavia. It is one of the hardiest European trees, occurring to 71° north in Vardø Municipality in the far northern part of Arctic Norway, and has also become widely naturalised in northern North America.
The greatest diversity of form as well as the largest number of rowan species is in Asia, with very distinctive species such as Sargent's rowan Sorbus sargentiana with large leaves long and broad and very large corymbs with 200–500 flowers, and at the other extreme, small-leaf rowan Sorbus microphylla with leaves long and broad. While most are trees, the dwarf rowan Sorbus reducta is a low shrub to tall. Several of the Asian species are widely cultivated as ornamental trees.
North American native species in the genus Sorbus include the American mountain-ash Sorbus americana and Showy mountain-ash Sorbus decora in the east and Sitka mountain-ash Sorbus sitchensis in the west.
Numerous hybrids, mostly behaving as true species reproducing by apomixis, occur between rowans and whitebeams; these are variably intermediate between their parents but generally more resemble whitebeams and are usually grouped with them (q.v.).
Uses
Rowans are excellent small ornamental trees for parks, gardens and wildlife areas. Several of the Asian species, such as white-fruited rowan (Sorbus oligodonta) are popular for their unusual fruit colour, and Sargent's rowan (Sorbus sargentiana) for its exceptionally large clusters of fruit. Numerous cultivars have also been selected for garden use, several of them, such as the yellow-fruited Sorbus 'Joseph Rock', of hybrid origin. They are very attractive to fruit-eating birds, which is reflected in the old name "bird catcher".
The wood is dense and used for carving and turning and for tool handles and walking sticks.Vedel, H., & Lange, J. (1960). Trees and Bushes in Wood and Hedgerow. Metheun & Co. Ltd., London. Rowan fruit are a traditional source of tannins for mordanting vegetable dyes. In Finland, it has been a traditional wood of choice for horse sled shafts and rake spikes.
The fruit of the European rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) can be made into a slightly bitter jelly which in Britain is traditionally eaten as an accompaniment to game, and into jams and other preserves either on their own or with other fruit. The fruit can also be a substitute for coffee beans, and has many uses in alcoholic beverages: to flavour liqueurs and cordials, to produce country wine, and to flavour ale. In Austria a clear rowan schnapps is distilled which is called by its German name Vogelbeerschnaps, Czechs also make a rowan liquor called jeřabinka, the Polish Jarzębiak is rowan-flavoured vodka, and the Welsh used to make a rowan wine called diodgriafel.
Rowan cultivars with superior fruit for human food use are available but not common; mostly the fruits are gathered from wild trees growing on public lands.
Rowan fruit contains sorbic acid, and when raw also contains parasorbic acid (about 0.4%–0.7% in the European rowan), which causes indigestion and can lead to kidney damage, but heat treatment (cooking, heat-drying etc.) and, to a lesser extent, freezing, renders it nontoxic by changing it to the benign sorbic acid. They are also usually too astringent to be palatable when raw. Collecting them after first frost (or putting in the freezer) cuts down on the bitter taste as well.
Mythology and folklore Mythology In Sami mythology, the goddess Ravdna is the consort of the thunder-god Horagalles. Red berries of rowan were holy to Ravdna, and the name Ravdna resembles North Germanic words for the tree (for example, Old Norse reynir).
In Norse mythology, the goddess Sif is the wife of the thunder god Thor, who has been linked with Ravdna. According to Skáldskaparmál the rowan is called "the salvation of Thor" because Thor once saved himself by clinging to it. It has been hypothesized that Sif was once conceived in the form of a rowan to which Thor clung.
In the Fianna Cycle of Irish mythology, The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne sees the couple eloping, trying to escape the vengeance of the legendary leader Fionn Mac Cumhaill, whom Grainne had spurned. The pair came to a forest guarded by the giant Searbhán. Searbhán allowed the pair to rest and hunt in his forest, as long as they did not eat the berries of his magical rowan tree. The pregnant Grainne desired the berries, and Diarmuid was compelled to kill Searbhán to obtain them. His mortal weapons being powerless against Searbhán, he used the giant's own iron club to kill him. The pair climbed high into the rowan tree to eat the sweetest berries, then rested in the tree afterwards. This was in violation of the advice of Aengus, the god of love, who had warned the couple that they should "not sleep in a cave with one opening, or a house with one door, or a tree with one branch, and that they would never be able to eat where they cooked, or sleep where they ate." Fionn Mac Cuimhaill tracked the couple to the rowan tree and tricked Diarmuid into revealing himself through a game of chess. Aengus spirited Grainne away and Diarmuid leapt to safety, and the pursuit continued.
Folk magic The European Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) has a long tradition in European mythology and folklore. It was thought to be a magical tree and give protection against malevolent beings. The tree was also called "wayfarer's tree" or "traveller's tree" because it supposedly prevents those on a journey from getting lost. It was said in England that this was the tree on which the Devil hanged his mother.