Mountain Ash, a tree of many uses

Mountain Ash or Rowan as it's also known, is a common tree in many gardens and as a native, grows well in the UK. However few of us give it much thought. The bright red berries of the Rowan make it an attractive ornamental tree for the garden. It doesn't drop the berries all over the place though so won't annoy gardeners, pedestrians or car owners! It is so much more than just an ornamental though and can be a very valuable tree for many reasons. These great facts about the Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia) are sure to make you look at this marvellous tree in a whole new way!

Rowan is actually part of the Rose family!

Mountain ash is a name for any species of the genus Sorbus in the family Rosaceae (rose family). They are hardy ornamental trees and shrubs native to the Northern Hemisphere, and not related to the true ashes but to roses. They are deciduous and bear clusters of white flowers followed by orange or brilliant red berrylike fruits.

Those brilliant berries are edible!

The astringent pome berries came in very useful for our ancestors who used them to make jellies and flavour the beverages mead and bitter wine. The fruits are usually very bitter and inedible fresh, but are used to make jam or jelly, with a distinctive bitter flavour which is a traditional accompaniment to game and venison. It best to remove the seeds when using the fruit medicinally or as a food as they may contain cyanogenic glycosides. These are normally strained out when making rowan jelly. The leaves and flowers can also be used as a tea substitute. During the potato famine the leaves of the tree were thought to have been eaten by the famished Irish! Before that time the leaves would occasionally have been used as winter feed for cattle. Young leaves contain a cyanogenic glycoside so you should be very hungry before even thinking of eating them though.

If you fancy giving Rowan berries a try, then how about one of these tasty recipes:

Rowan Jelly Ingredients: 1 kg Rowan berries, cleaned 400 ml Water, Gelling agent (pectin) Preparation: Place the berries in a pan, add the water and cover. Heat to simmering, then cover and let it sit overnight. Strain through a cheesecloth. Follow the instructions on the gelling agent package to make the jelly with the resultant juice. Should yield about 1 litre of juice.

Rowan Chutney with Green Tomatoes and courgette Ingredients: 1kg Rowan berries (pureed & strained), 200g Onion, 200g Green Tomatoes, 200g Courgette, 200g Plums, 3 fresh red Chillies 1 tablespoon fresh ground Ginger 200ml Vinegar, 170g sugar, 1 tablespoon mustard seeds 1 teaspoon salt 1-2 stock cubes 3 tablespoons Olive oil, Gelling agent (pectin) 2 tablespoons sugar Preparation: Saut? the chopped onions, add the rest of the cut up fruit and vegetables and pour the liquid and spices on top. Simmer for 30 min. Combine the gelling agent with the sugar and stir into the vegetable mix. Continue to simmer for another 4 minutes. While still hot pour the mass into sterilized jars and seal. After opening keep in the fridge and use within a few days.

Rowan has a place in mythology as a magical tree!

This tree is one of the most revered plants in the folklore of the Old World. It warded off evil influences and was "Thor's helper". Bits of the wood were thought by the Celtic Druids to avert almost any disaster particularly fire and it was also used to ward off witches. Because of these protective properties, Rowan wood was often hung in the home. An old Irish term for the Rowan tree was "fid na ndruad" or translated to "tree of the druids".

The Rowan is a great habitat for wildlife!

The fruit is an important food resource for many birds, notably Redwings, Fieldfares, Blackbirds, Mistle Thrushes and Waxwings, which in turn disperse the seeds in their droppings. The seeds are eaten by Pine Grosbeaks and other large finches. The foliage and bark is eaten by deer, rabbits and hares, and a small number of insect larvae, including leaf-miners in the genus Stigmella, and the moth Venusia cambrica. The snail Helix aspersa also feeds on the leaves. In the days when songbirds were regarded a delicacy on our dinner plates the luscious berries served as a fateful lure to entice and trap them!

Although the tree doesn't provide wood large enough for construction, it has been uses for many carpentry purposes. The tree yields dense, hard, pale brown wood which is used in turnery and carving and makes good firewood. It was used to make bows in Middle Ages and more recently for tool handles, mallet heads, bowls and platters.

Rowan gave us one of the most popular sugar free sweeteners!

Since the first polyol, sorbitol, was discovered in the berries of the rowan, the food industry has found additional polyols, each providing different benefits to the consumer in healthy and sugar free food. Polyols are bulk sweeteners used for part or full replacement of sugar in sugar-free, no-sugar-added or reduced- calorie versions of standard foods. The taste is very similar to that of sucrose, and it is characterized by a natural sweetness close to that of sugar without the after taste or bitterness found with other sweeteners.

Rowan is said to have medicinal properties!

The berries from the Rowan have been used to make a tea to treat urinary tract problems, haemorrhoids and diarrhoea. The fresh juice of the berries is a mild laxative, and helps to soothe inflamed mucous membranes as a gargle. The berries contain high concentrations of Vitamin C, and were once used as a treatment for scurvy. Even today, one of the sugars in the fruit is sometimes given intravenously to reduce pressure in an eyeball with glaucoma. Caution, however, must be taken when using the berries. They are reported to contain a cancer-causing compound, parasorbic acid. This is however neutralized by cooking when they are made into jams or jellies. The bark is astringent and in herbal medicine may be employed for several purposes. A decoction of the bark was traditionally considered a blood cleanser and was used to treat diarrhoea, nausea, upset stomach and as a vaginal wash for leucorrhoea etc. Both the flowers and the fruit are aperients, mildly diuretic, laxative and emmenagogue. An infusion is used in the treatment of painful menstruation, constipation and kidney disorders.

Rowan can be used for other things too!

Oil is obtained from the seed and a cosmetic face-mask is made from the fruits and is used to combat wrinkled skin with its high vitamin C content. All parts of the plant contain tannin and can be used as a black dye.

Rowan seed is famous for being spread by hungry birds, but now there's another way! Growing Greetings TM offer Rowan seed papers of part of their tree cards range of innovative and unusual living gift cards. Simply log on to www.growing-greetings.co.uk and send out some Rowan seeds yourself!

Innovative, Unusual and Eco-Friendly Living Gift Cards and Seed Papers.

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