SOR 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



SOR 



605 



bular, umbilicate. Seeds: three, somewhat oblong, distinct, 

 cartilaginous. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five-cleft. 

 Petals : five. Berry : inferior, three-seeded. The spe- 

 cies are, 



1. Sorbus Aucuparia; Mountain Service, Mountain Ash, 

 Quicken Tree, or Roan Tree. Leaves pinnate, smooth on 

 both sides ; corollas white, with very concave petals. The 

 flowers are in large terminating pubescent corymbs, very 

 much branched ; fruit a pome ; seeds three, sometimes four 

 or five. This is a slow-growing and elegant tree, which, as 

 Mr. Gilpin remarks, arrives to a considerable size in the 

 Highlands of Scotland. There, he adds, on some rocky 

 mountains, covered with dark Pines and waving Birch, a few 

 of these trees intermixing have a fine effect. In summer the 

 light green tint of the foliage, and in autumn the glowing 

 berries which hang clustering upon them, contrast beauti- 

 fully with the deeper green of the Pines : if they are happily 

 blended, and not in too large a proportion, they add some 

 of the most picturesque furniture with which the sides of 

 those rugged mountains are invested. In ancient days, when 

 superstition held that place in society which dissipation and 

 impiety now hold, the Mountain Ash was considered as an 

 object of great veneration. Often, at this day, a stump of it 

 is found in some old burying-place, or near the circle of a 

 Druid temple, whose rites it formerly invested with its sacred 

 shade. Another author observes, that even to this day it 

 may be observed to grow more frequently than any other tree 

 in the neighbourhood of the Druidical circles of stones so 

 often seen in North Britain ; and superstitious persons still 

 believe that any small part of it, carried about them, will 

 prove a sovereign charm against all the effects of enchant- 

 ment and witchcraft. The dairy-maid will not forget to drive 

 her cattle to the shealings, or summer pastures, with a rod 

 of the Roan Tree, which she carefully lays up over the door 

 of the shealboothy, or summer house, and drives them home 

 again with the same. In Strathspey, they make, on the first 

 of May, a hoop with the wood of this tree, and in the evening 

 and morning cause all the sheep and lambs to pass through 

 it. In Wales, says Mr. Evelyn, this tree is reputed so sacred, 

 that there is not a church-yard without one of them planted 

 in it: so, on a certain day in the year, every body religiously 

 wears a cross made of the wood, and it is reputed to be a 

 preservative against fascinations and evil spirits, whence 

 perhaps we call it Witchen; the boughs being stuck about 

 the house, or the wood used for walking-staves. It is curious 

 to observe how the same old superstitions have been driven 

 with the ancient inhabitants into the remote corners of our 

 island, so distinct from each other as Scotland and Wales. 

 In the south of England, the tree is generally known by the 

 name of the Mountain Ash, from its growing in high situa- 

 tions, and having pmnate leaves like the Ash; but this name 

 has led ignorant persons to suppose that it has an affinity 

 with the Ash; and even Mr. Gilpin speaks of it as a variety 

 of that tree ; whereas it is totally different, except a small 

 resemblance in the leaves. Gerarde calls it the Wild Ash, 

 Quickbeam, or Quicken Tree; Evelyn, the Quickbeam, Wild 

 Sorb, or Witchen, which is otherwise written Whicken or 

 Whitten : but all these names, except Ash and Sorb, are 

 evidently the same, and are derived from the supposed efficacy 

 of the tree in repelling witchcraft. In Scotland and the north 

 of England, it is called Roan Tree ; and even this name is 

 spelt variously, Rowne, Roddan, and Rantry. The wood is 

 tough and close-grained, but not hard. It may be used in 

 mill-work, and converted into tables, chairs, spokes for 

 wheels, shafts, screws for presses, &c. If the tree be large, 

 it will saw into planks, boards, or timber, and is preferred 



by wheelwrights because it is all heart. Besides the use of 

 it in making husbandmen's tools, the roots are formed into 

 handles for knives, and spoons. Withering and Lightfoot 

 say, that the berries dried and reduced to powder make whole- 

 some bread ; and that an ardent spirit of a fine flavour may 

 be distilled from them in small quantities. The Scotch High- 

 landers, as well as the inhabitants of Kamtschatka, make use 

 of the berries for those purposes ; and the poor people in 

 Wales infuse the berries in water, and drink the liquor, which 

 is acid, and like perry. In the island of Jura, the juice of the 

 berries is used in making punch. The German fowlers bait 

 springes or nooses of hair with these berries, to entrap the 

 redwings and fieldfares ; whence the trivial name Aucuparia. 

 Native of the colder parts of Europe, of Mount Libanus, 

 and Siberia. Found in woods and hedges, on mountainous 

 and boggy situations in the north of England, and in Wales, 

 Scotland, and Ireland, flowering in May. In the southern 

 counties it is seldom found of any size, but in the northern 

 counties and in Wales there are trees of very large growth. 

 The leaves make a pretty variety, when mixed with other trees 

 in plantations. It is also handsome in flowering and fruit- 

 ing; but blackbirds and thrushes are so fond of the fruit, that 

 they devour it before it is properly ripe. Propagation and 

 Culture. All the species may be propagated by sowing their 

 seeds in pots soon after the fruit is ripe, sheltering them 

 under a common frame in winter, and plunging the pots into 

 a moderate hot-bed in the spring, which will soon bring up 

 the plants, which should be carefully freed from weeds, and 

 watered in dry weather, and then should be exposed to the 

 open air ; for the only reason for putting them in a hot-bed 

 is to forward the growth of the seeds ; but when the plants 

 are come up, if the bed be kept covered, it will draw the 

 plants and spoil them. Let them remain in this bed till the 

 middle of October; when the leaves will decay, and a warm 

 light spot of ground must be prepared to receive them; into 

 this they should be planted, in rows two feet asunder, and a 

 foot distant in the rows, observing to take them up care- 

 fully, and to plant them as soon as possible, that their roots 

 may not dry. During the summer, the ground should be 

 kept constantly clear from weeds, and in winter there should 

 be a little mulch laid upon the surface of the ground about 

 their roots, to protect them from being injured by frost; but 

 in the spring the ground between them should be dug, bury- 

 ing the mulch therein, in doing of which you must be careful 

 not to cut or injure the roots of the plants. In this nursery 

 they may continue three or four years, according to their 

 growth ; it will then be proper to transplant them out where 

 they are to remain ; the best season for which is in October, 

 or in the spring, just before they begin to shoot. The soil 

 should be warm in which they are planted, and the situation 

 defended from cold winds, which will cause them to thrive, 

 and produce fruit in a few years. Mr. Boutcher recommends, 

 when the seedling plants have stood a year, to remove them 

 and let them stand two seasons more; then cutting away all 

 cross, downright, or superfluous roots, to remove them into 

 another nursery, planting them three feet and a half by 

 eighteen inches asunder, there to remain three years, when 

 they will be of proper size to remove where they are to con- 

 tinue. They may also be raised by layers, but the trees so 

 obtained will neither be so straight nor so handsome as those 

 which are raised from seeds. 



2. Sorbus Hybrida; Bastard Service, or Mountain Ash. 

 Leaves semipinnate, tomentose beneath. This is a middle- 

 sized tree, with white flowers, and fruit as in the preceding- 

 species, but a little larger. It may be propagated in the 

 same way, but requires a moist strong soil, and will grow in 



