Rowan

Where it grows

Rowan, also called mountain ash (though unrelated to true ash), ranges from Iceland and Britain east across Europe to Siberia and from the Mediterranean uplands north of the Arctic Circle. It tolerates poor acid soils and exposure, making it one of the highest-growing trees in the Scottish Highlands and Norwegian fjords.

How to recognise it

A slender tree with smooth grey bark and pinnate leaves of 13 to 17 lance-shaped, sharply toothed leaflets. In spring the tree carries broad flat panicles of small cream flowers with a faintly musky scent. By August these have ripened into spectacular clusters of bright orange-red berries that often colour up before the leaves turn.

Uses

The berries are too tart and slightly bitter to eat raw, but they cook down beautifully into rowan jelly — the traditional accompaniment to venison and game across Scotland, Scandinavia, and the Alps. The dense pale wood was once used for tool handles and walking sticks.

In folklore

Rowan was the classic European charm against witchcraft, planted at farmhouse doors and woven into amulets across Celtic and Norse traditions. The Norse god Thor was said to have been saved by clinging to a rowan branch in flood.