Difference between revisions of "Rowan"

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The '''rowans''' 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 mountains of western [[China]] and the [[Himalaya]], where numerous [[apomictic]] microspecies occur.<ref name=rushforth>Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain and Europe''. Collins {{ISBN|0-00-220013-9}}.</ref> The name ''rowan'' was originally applied to the species ''[[Sorbus aucuparia]]'' and is also used for other species in ''Sorbus'' subgenus ''Sorbus''.<ref>McAllister, H.A. 2005. ''The genus Sorbus: Mountain Ash and other Rowans ''. Kew Publishing.</ref>
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'''Rowans''' or '''mountain-ashes'''
 
 
Formerly, when a wider variety of fruits were commonly eaten in Europe and North America, ''Sorbus'' was a domestically used fruit throughout these regions. It is still used in some countries, but ''[[Sorbus domestica]]'', for example, is now all but extinct in Britain, where it was traditionally revered.<ref>[http://www.wbrc.org.uk/WORCRECD/Issue7/whittyp.htm "The Whitty Pear, ''[[Sorbus domestica]]''"]</ref> Natural hybrids, often including ''Sorbus aucuparia'' and the whitebeam, ''[[Sorbus aria]]'', give rise to many [[endemic]] variants in the UK.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/Botanic/Plant.aspx?p=27&ix=65&pid |title=Cambridge Botanic Garden: the Genus Sorbus |publisher=Botanic.cam.ac.uk |date= |accessdate=2018-07-12}}</ref>
 
 
 
==Names==
 
The traditional names of the rowan are those applied to the species ''[[Sorbus aucuparia]]'', ''[[Sorbus torminalis]]'' (wild service-tree), and ''[[Sorbus domestica]]'' (true service-tree).
 
The Latin name ''sorbus'' was borrowed into [[Old English]] as ''syrfe''. The name "service-tree" for ''[[Sorbus domestica]]'' is derived from that name by [[folk etymology]].
 
The Latin name ''sorbus'' is from a root for "red, reddish-brown" ([[PIE]] ''*sor-/*ser-''); English ''sorb'' is attested from the 1520s in the sense "fruit of the service tree", adopted via French ''sorbe'' from Latin ''sorbum'' "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 [[Fraxinus|ash]], not to be confused in ''[[Fraxinus ornus]]'', a true ash that is also known as "mountain ash".<ref>"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), [https://books.google.com/books?id=CLcfAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA41#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 41].
 
The English herbalist [[John Gerard]] in 1590 apparently fell victim to just this confusion, equating ''ornus'' and quickbeam (see below).</ref>
 
''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 name "rowan" is recorded from 1804, detached from an earlier rowan-tree, rountree, attested from the 1540s in northern dialects of English and [[Scots language|Scots]]. It is from a [[North Germanic]] source (such as [[Middle Norwegian]]), derived from Old Norse ''reynir'' (c.f. Norwegian ''rogn'', Danish ''røn'', Swedish ''rönn''), ultimately from the [[Common Germanic|Germanic]] verb ''[[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/raudaz|*raud]][[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Germanic/-inōną|-inan]]'' "to redden", in reference to the berries (as is the Latin name ''sorbus'').
 
Various dialectal variants of ''rowan'' are found in English, including ''ran, roan, rodan, royan, royne, round, rune''.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}}
 
 
 
The [[Old English]] name of the rowan is ''cwic-beám'', 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 (word)|witch]], from a dialectal variant ''wick'' for quick and names such as
 
wicken-tree, wich-tree, wicky, wiggan-tree, giving rise to names such as witch-hazel<ref>"Witch-hazel" is much more commonly associated with ''[[Hamamelis]]''.</ref> and witch-tree.<ref>Abram Smythe Palmer, ''Folk-etymology : a Dictionary of Verbal Corruptions Or Words Perverted in Form Or Meaning, by False Derivation Or Mistaken Analogy'' (1882), [https://books.google.com/books?id=fXrlvr_kPXwC&pg=PA443 443f].</ref>
 
 
 
The [[Old Irish]] name is ''cairtheand'', reflected in Modern Irish ''caorann''. The "arboreal" ''[[Bríatharogam]]'' in the ''[[Book of Ballymote]]'' associates the rowan with the letter ''[[Luis (letter)|luis]]'', with the gloss "delightful to the eye (''li sula'') is ''luis'', i.e. rowan (''caertheand''), 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.{{who|date=July 2013}}
 
 
 
In the [[Canadian province]]s of [[Newfoundland and Labrador]] and [[Nova Scotia]], this species is commonly referred to as a "dogberry" tree.<ref>Story, G. M. and  Kirwin, W. J. (1990). ''Dictionary of Newfoundland English''. University of Toronto Press. {{ISBN|0-8020-6819-7}}.</ref>
 
In [[German language|German]], ''Sorbus aucuparia'' is known as the ''Vogelbeerbaum'' ("bird-berry tree") or as ''Eberesche''. The latter is a compound of the name of the [[ash tree]] (''Esche'') with what is contemporarily the name of the boar (''Eber''), but in fact the continuation of a [[Gaulish]] name, ''eburo-'' (also the name for a dark reddish-brown colour, cognate with Greek ''orphnos'', Old Norse ''iarpr'' "brown"); like ''sorbus'', ''eburo-'' 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)]]''. The Welsh name ''criafol ''refers to the tree as "lamenting fruit", associating the red fruit with the blood of Christ, as Welsh tradition believed the Cross was carved from the wood of this tree.
 
 
 
==Botany==
 
[[File:Sorbus glabrescens1.jpg|right|thumb|alt=Foliage and clusters of small white fruits|White-fruited rowan ''[[Sorbus glabrescens]]'', a Chinese species with white fruit]]
 
Rowans are mostly small [[deciduous]] [[tree]]s 10–20 m tall, though a few are [[shrub]]s. 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.<ref name=Blamey>{{cite book|last1=Blamey|first1=M.|last2=Fitter|first2=R.|last3=Fitter|first3=A|year=2003|title=Wild flowers of Britain and Ireland: The Complete Guide to the British and Irish Flora.|publisher=A & C Black|location=London|isbn=978-1408179505}}</ref>{{rp|388}} Rowan [[leaf|leaves]] are arranged alternately, and are [[pinnate]], with (7–)11–35 leaflets.  A terminal leaflet is always present. The [[flower]]s are borne in dense [[corymb]]s; each flower is creamy white, and 5–10&nbsp;mm across with five petals. The [[fruit]] is a small [[pome]] 4–8&nbsp;mm 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 [[bird]]s, particularly [[waxwing]]s and [[thrush (bird)|thrushes]], which then distribute the rowan [[seed]]s in their droppings.<ref name=rushforth/> Due to their small size the fruits are often referred to as berries, but a [[Berry (botany)|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 [[larva]]e of some [[Lepidoptera]] species; see [[list of Lepidoptera that feed on Sorbus|Lepidoptera that feed on ''Sorbus'']].
 
 
 
[[File:Rowan tree 20081002b.jpg|right|thumb|alt=Medium-sized tree bearing small red fruits, standing next to a country lane|Mature European rowan tree]]
 
The best-known species is the European rowan ''Sorbus aucuparia'', a small tree typically 4–12 m tall growing in a variety of habitats throughout northern [[Europe]] and in [[mountain]]s in southern Europe and southwest [[Asia]]. Its berries are a favourite food for many birds and are a traditional wild-collected food in [[UK|Britain]] and [[Scandinavia]]. It is one of the hardiest [[Europe]]an trees, occurring to 71° north in [[Vardø]] in Arctic [[Norway]], and has also become widely [[naturalisation (biology)|naturalised]] in northern [[North America]].
 
 
 
[[File:Rowan flowers-oliv.jpg|right|thumb|alt=Cluster of fuzzy white flowers against foliage in dappled shadow|Rowan flowers]]
 
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 20–35&nbsp;cm long and 15–20&nbsp;cm broad and very large corymbs with 200–500 flowers, and at the other extreme, small-leaf rowan ''[[Sorbus microphylla]]'' with leaves 8–12&nbsp;cm long and 2.5–3&nbsp;cm broad. While most are trees, the dwarf rowan ''[[Sorbus reducta]]'' is a low [[shrub]] to 50&nbsp;cm tall. Several of the Asian species are widely cultivated as ornamental trees.
 
 
 
North American native species in the [[subgenus]] ''Sorbus (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 [[Hybrid (biology)|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.).
 
  
 
==Selected species==
 
==Selected species==
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*''[[Sorbus wilfordii]]''
 
*''[[Sorbus wilfordii]]''
 
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==Uses==
 
Rowans are excellent small ornamental trees for [[park]]s, [[garden]]s and [[wildlife]] areas. Several of the Chinese species, such as White-fruited rowan (''Sorbus glabrescens'') are popular for their unusual fruit colour, and Sargent's rowan (''Sorbus sargentiana'') for its exceptionally large clusters of fruit. Numerous [[cultivar]]s have also been selected for garden use, several of them, such as the yellow-fruited ''Sorbus'' 'Joseph Rock', of hybrid origin.<ref name=rushforth/> 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.<ref name=vedel>Vedel, H., & Lange, J. (1960). ''Trees and Bushes in Wood and Hedgerow''. Metheun & Co. Ltd., London.</ref> Rowan fruit are a traditional source of [[tannin]]s for [[mordant]]ing vegetable dyes.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Neighbourhood Forager: A Guide For The Wild Food Gourmet |last=Henderson |first=Robert K. |year=2000 |publisher=Key Porter Books |location=Toronto |isbn=1-55263-306-3 |page=68}}</ref> In Finland, it has been a traditional wood of choice for horse sled shafts and rake spikes. [[File:Freshly cross cut Sorbus aucuparia with heart-wood.jpg|thumb|alt=Round piece of wood showing cross-section|Freshly cross cut ''Sorbus aucuparia'' from the island of Engeloeya in Norway with visible heart-wood]] [[File:Freshly rip cut Sorbus aucuparia from the island of Engeloeya in Norway.jpg|thumb|alt=round piece of wood cut in half|Freshly rip cut ''Sorbus aucuparia'' from the island of Engeloeya in Norway]]
 
 
The fruit of [[European rowan]] (''Sorbus aucuparia'') can be made into a slightly bitter [[fruit preserves|jelly]] which in [[UK|Britain]] is traditionally eaten as an accompaniment to [[game (food)|game]], and into [[jam]]s and other preserves, on their own, or with other fruit. The fruit can also be a substitute for [[coffee]] beans, and has many uses in [[alcoholic beverage]]s: to flavour [[liqueur]]s and [[Liqueur|cordials]], to produce [[fruit wine|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''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://floratrek.hautetfort.com/archive/2011/08/17/titre-de-la-note.html |title=Sorbier des oiseleurs |publisher=Floratrek.hautetfort.com |date=2011-06-25 |accessdate=2018-07-12}}</ref> and the Welsh used to make one called ''diodgriafel''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/wfs/wfsberries.htm |title=Wild Food School |publisher=Countrylovers.co.uk |date= |accessdate=2018-07-12}}</ref>
 
 
Rowan [[cultivar]]s with superior fruit for human food use are available but not common; mostly the fruits are gathered from wild trees growing on public lands.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
 
 
Rowan fruit contains [[sorbic acid]], an acid that takes its name from the Latin name of the genus ''Sorbus''. The raw fruit also contain [[parasorbic acid]] (about 0.4%-0.7% in the European rowan<ref>O Raspe, C Findlay, AL Jacquemart. ''Sorbus aucuparia L.'' The Journal of Ecology, 2000</ref>), which causes [[indigestion]] and can lead to [[kidney]] damage, but [[heat]] treatment ([[cooking]], heat-[[drying (food)|drying]] etc.) and, to a lesser extent, freezing, neutralises it, by changing it to the benign sorbic acid. Luckily, 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==
 
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.<ref name=tfl>Trees for Life: [https://treesforlife.org.uk/forest/mythology-folklore/rowan2/ Mythology and Folklore of the Rowan]</ref>
 
The tree was also called "wayfarer's tree" or  "traveller's tree" because it supposedly prevents those on a journey from getting lost.<ref>Eyers, Jonathan (2011). ''Don't Shoot the Albatross!: Nautical Myths and Superstitions''. A&C Black, London, UK. {{ISBN|978-1-4081-3131-2}}.</ref> It was said in England that this was the tree on which the Devil hanged [[devil's grandmother|his mother]].
 
<ref name="Westwood121">Westwood, Jennifer (1985), ''Albion. A Guide to Legendary Britain''. London: Grafton Books. {{ISBN|0-246-11789-3}}. p. 257.</ref>
 
 
British folklorists of the [[Victorian era]] reported the folk belief in [[apotropaic]] powers of the rowan-tree, in particular in the warding off of witches.
 
Such a report is given by [[Edwin Lees]] (1856) for the [[Wyre Forest]] in the English [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]].<ref>Edwin Lees, ''Pictures of nature in the silurian region around the Malvern hills and vale of Severn'', H.W. Lamb, 1856, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LaM2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA274#v=onepage&q&f=false 274f].</ref>
 
[[Sir James Frazer]] (1890) reported such a tradition in Scotland, where the tree was often planted near a gate or front door.<ref>[[Sir James Frazer]], [[The Golden Bough]], p620, Papermac Edition, 1987, {{ISBN|0-333-43430-7}}</ref>
 
According to Frazer, birds' droppings often contain rowan seeds, and if such droppings land in a fork or hole where old leaves have accumulated on a larger tree, such as an [[oak]] or a [[maple]], they may result in a rowan growing as an [[epiphyte]] on the larger tree. Such a rowan is called a "flying rowan" and was thought of as especially potent against witches and [[black magic]], and as a counter-charm against sorcery.<ref>[[Sir James Frazer]], [[The Golden Bough]], p702, Papermac Edition, 1987, {{ISBN|0-333-43430-7}}</ref>
 
In 1891, [[Charles Godfrey Leland]]  also reported traditions of rowan's apotropaic powers against witches in English folklore, citing the ''[[Denham Tracts]]'' (collected between 1846 and 1859).<ref>"The anti-witch rhyme used in Tweedesdale some sixty or seventy years ago [viz. in the 1820s] was: "Black-luggie, lammer bead, rowan-tree and reed thread, put the witches to their speed. [...] I have seen a twig of rowan-tree [...] which had been gathered on the second of May (observe this), wound round with some dozens of yards of red thread, placed visible in the window to act as a charm in keeping witches and ''Boggle boes'' from the house." Charles Godfrey Leland, ''Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling'', 1891, [https://books.google.com/books?id=phhjz8csco4C&pg=PA198#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 198]</ref> Rowan also serves as protection against [[fairies]]. For example, according to [[Thomas Keightley]] mortals could safely witness fairy rades (mounted processions held by the fairies each year at the onset of summer) by placing a rowan branch over their doors.<ref>Keightley, Thomas (1884) [1828]. ''The Fairy Mythology''. London: George Bell & Sons. pp. 354-5.</ref>
 
 
In [[Norse mythology]], the goddess [[Sif]] is the wife of the thunder god [[Thor]]. Sif has been linked with [[Ravdna]], the consort of the [[Sami shamanism|Sami]] 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''). According to ''Skáldskaparmál'' the rowan is called "the salvation of Thor" because Thor once saved himself by clinging to it. It has been theorized that Sif was once conceived in the form of a rowan to which Thor clung.<ref name=TURVILLE-PETRE98>[[Gabriel Turville-Petre|Turville-Petre, E. O. G.]] (1964). ''Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia'', p. 98. [[Weidenfeld and Nicolson]].</ref>
 
 
In [[Neo-Druidism]], the rowan is known as the "portal tree". It is considered the threshold, between this world and otherworld, or between here and where ever you may be going, for example, it was placed at the gate to a property, signifying the crossing of the threshold between the path or street and the property of someone. According to Elen Sentier, in her book,<ref>Shaman Pathways - Trees of the Goddess</ref> "Threshold is a place of both INGRESS (the way in) and EGRESS (the way out). Rowan is a portal, threshold tree offering you the chance of 'going somewhere ... and leaving somewhere."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sentier|first1=Elen|title=Shaman Pathways - Trees of the Goddess|date=2014|publisher=Moon Books|location=Alresford, Hants,SO24 9JH, UK|isbn=978 1 78279 332 8}}</ref>
 
 
In [[Newfoundland]], popular folklore maintains that a heavy crop of fruit means a hard or difficult winter. Similarly, in Finland and Sweden, the number of fruit on the trees was used as a predictor of the [[snow]] cover during [[winter]], but here the belief was that the rowan "will not bear a heavy load of fruit and a heavy load of snow in the same year", that is, a heavy fruit crop predicted a winter with little snow.
 
 
However, as fruit production for a given summer is related to weather conditions the previous [[summer]], with warm, dry summers increasing the amount of stored sugars available for subsequent flower and fruit production, it has no predictive relationship to the weather of the next winter.<ref>Kobro, S., Søreide, L., Djønne, E., Rafoss, T., Jaastad, G., & Witzgall, P. (2003). Masting of rowan Sorbus aucuparia L. ''Population Ecology'' 45 (1): 25-30.</ref><ref>Raspe, O., Findlay, C., & Jacquemart, A. (2000). Sorbus aucuparia. ''Journal of Ecology'' 88 (5): 910-930.</ref>
 
 
In [[Malax]], Finland  the reverse was thought.<ref>Tillhagen, Carl-Herman. (1995). Skogarna och träden: Naturvård i gångna tider. Carlssons bokförlag, Stockholm.</ref> If the rowan flowers were plentiful then the rye harvest would also be plentiful.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}} Similarly, if the rowan flowered twice in a year there would be many potatoes and many weddings that autumn.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}} And in [[Sipoo]] people are noted as having said that winter had begun when the [[waxwings]] (''[[Bombycilla garrulus]]'') had eaten the last of the rowan fruit.<ref>Mannhardt, Wilhelm. (1963). Wald- und Feldkulte. Bd. I. Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstämmes. p. 52. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Verlag</ref>
 
 
In Sweden, it was also thought that if the rowan trees grew pale and lost color, the fall and winter would bring much illness.<ref>Tillhagen, Carl-Herman. (1995). Skogarna och träden: Naturvård i gånga tider. Carlssons bokförlag, Stockholm</ref>
 
 
== See also ==
 
*[[Rowntree (disambiguation)|Rowntree]], an English surname derived from "rowan tree"
 
*''Sorbus'' subgenus ''[[Whitebeam|Aria]]''
 
*''Sorbus'' subgenus [[Sorbus alnifolia|''Micromeles'']]
 
*''Sorbus'' subgenus [[Sorbus domestica|''Cormus'']]
 
*''Sorbus'' subgenus [[Sorbus torminalis|''Torminaria'']]
 
*''Sorbus'' subgenus [[Sorbus chamaemespilus|''Chamaemespilus'']]
 
  
 
== References ==
 
== References ==
 
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
 
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
  
==External links==
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[[Category:Rosaceae]]
{{wiktionary|service tree}}
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[[Category:Plants for Keenan to eat]]
{{wiktionary|sorbus}}
 
{{wiktionary|mountain ash}}
 
{{wiktionary|rowan}}
 
{{Commons|Sorbus}}
 
 
 
{{Taxonbar|from=Q12646464}}
 
 
 
[[Category:Sorbus]]
 
[[Category:Trees of subpolar oceanic climate]]
 
[[Category:Natural cultivars]]
 

Latest revision as of 00:59, 14 September 2018

Rowan
Cluster of small red fruits on a branch with foliage
European rowan fruit
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Sorbus
Subgenus: Sorbus subg. Sorbus
Species

See text

Rowans or mountain-ashes

Selected species

References