EUROPEAN MOUNTAIN ASH.
S. Aucuparia, Linn.
Most common in cultivation is the European mountain ash called in England the rowan tree. This trim round headed species is very neat and conventional compared with its wild cousins, but in the craggy highlands of Scot land and Wales it much resembles our mountain ashes.
Old superstitions cluster around the rowan tree in all rural sections. These are preserved in the folk-lore and the literature of many countries. Rowans were planted by cottage doors and at the gates of church yards, being considered effectual in exorcising evil spirits. Leafy twigs hung over the thresholds, crosses made of "Roan" wood given out on festival days, were worn as charms or amulets. Milkmaids, especially, depended upon these
for the defeat of the "black elves" who constantly tried to make their cows go dry, and unless prevented got into the churns—and then the butter would never come! The farther north a tree can grow, the more likely it is to have close relatives in the Old World. One mountain ash of Japan is hardly distinguishable from our western species, and some authorities believe that our two native species are but varieties of the rowan tree of Europe.