Home › Rosaceae › Sorbus › Sorbus aucuparia (rowan, European mountain-ash)

aucuparia – means ‘bird-catching’

  • from the Latin, aucupor, to go bird-catching, a reference to the use of the mucilaginous fruit by fowlers (bird catchers) in making birdlime, which is any viscid, adhesive substance spread on a branch or twig, upon which a bird may land and be caught

Native range: Europe to Middle East (Iran)

Sorbus-aucuparia

Leaves:

  • alternate
  • pinnately compound .75–2.5” long
  • 9–15 pairs leaflets
  • lanceolate leaflets
  • dull green above
  • paler below
  • serrate (entire on lower part of leaflet)

Budding 161005969

Flowers:

  • inflorescence:
    • compound terminal corymbs
    • 3–5” flat topped
    • with at least 75 flowers
  • white
  • 5-merous
  • 15–20 stamens
  • scent is sweet and heavy, perceptible from many meters and considered unpleasant by some

Sorbus aucuparia inflorescence kz

Fruit:

  • orange red
  • fleshy pome
  • shiny

Rowanberries in late August 2004 in Helsinki

Other characteristics:

  • deciduous
  • 20–40 ft.
  • canopy diameter is 2/3 height due to widely spreading branches
  • light grayish brown bark

Relevant info:

  • once widely planted by houses as a protection against witches
    • red color of fruit was the best color for fighting evil
    • long associated with magic and witches
  • widely planted in northern North America as an ornamental and has naturalized in some parts of Canada and the northern U.S.
  • invasive in WA and currently on the state monitor list to gather more information for future noxious weed classification
  • species is on the King County Weeds of Concern list
    • control is recommended where natural resources are being protected or as part of a stewardship plan
  • Sorbus sitchensis (western mountain-ash, Sitka mountain-ash; 7–11 leaflets w/ rounded tips) and Sorbus scopulina (Cascade mountain-ash, western mountain-ash; 9–13 leaflets, glossy dark green) are native shrubs in NW U.S. at higher altitudes
    • both are generally more shrub-like than the European species, but young plants can be difficult to distinguish

Ecology & Adaptations:

  • native to Europe and Asia
  • found in thickets, roadsides, woods, other habitats near towns, scattered in remote natural settings, especially at cooler, higher altitudes in its native range, where it’s found from lowland to rocky mountain slopes and cliffs
  • 0–2100 m.
  • pollination:
    • by bees, flies, butterflies and beetles in native habitat
    • both nectar and pollen are taken and some of the beetles eat parts of the flowers as well
    • outcrossing preserves genetic diversity and increases fruit production
  • seeds dispersed by birds eating fruit, thereby makes its way into forests, as well as some mammals
  • vegetative reproduction:
    • produces suckers (new stems) from roots
    • epicormic shoots, particularly at high altitude where viable seeds are seldom produced
  • mycorrhizae facilitates water and nutrient uptake
  • cold hardy & frost tolerant:
    • adapted to short growing season, ceasing shoot growth relatively early in the season allowing full hardening of buds before freezing conditions occur
    • cold period (750 hours below 7ºC) required for bud burst
  • microbial defense:
    • aucuparin derivatives are toxic to fungi and are produced upon attack
    • catechin in wood is antifungal
  • wildlife:
    • in native habitat, important winter food for birds, and berry abundance can affect overwintering survival or amount of migrating populations of fieldfares, waxwings, and redwings
    • bullfinches feed on seeds that they separate from the fruit
    • deer and moose browse seedlings