Pyrus aucuparia, 
THE MOUNTAIN ASH. 
Synonymes. 
Sorbus aucuparia, 
Pyrus aucuparia, 
Sorbier des oiseleurs, Sorbier des oiseaux, 
Aillame, Cochesne, Timier, 
Sperberbaum, Vogelbeerbaum, 
Sorbo lazzerola salvatica ottobrina ; Sorba , 
salvatica ottobrina, Sorbo salvatico, 
Sorba della Ragnaja del Palagio di 
Gianfigliazzi, Sorba della Romola, 
Serbal sylvestre, Serbal de cazadores, 
Mountain Ash, Wild Ash, Wild Sorb, ^ 
Wild Service, Mountain Service, Fowl- 
er's Service, Quicken-tree, Quick 
Beam , Witchen-tree, Wichen, Whitch- 
en, Whitten, Wiggen-tree, 
Rowan-tree, Rowne-tree, Roan-tree, Rod- 
dan, Roddon, Rhodon, Routry, Rantry, 
Mountain Ash, Wild Service-tree, 
Linnjeus, Species Plantarum. 
De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Don, Miller's Dictionary. 
Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Spain. 
England. 
Scotland. 
Anglo-America. 
Derivations. The specific name aucuparia is derived from the Latin aucupor, to seek or get by cunning ; having reference 
to the use made of the berries of this tree in all countries where it grows, and from time immemorial, to bait birds with 
Whence the French names, Sorbier des oiseleurs, the Bird-catcher's Service-tree, and Sorbier des oiseaux, the Bird Service- 
tree. The German name signifies the Bird's Berry tree. This species is called Mountain Ash, from its growing on mountains, 
and the pinna? of its leaves bearing some resemblance to those of the common ash. Witchen, and all its derivatives, bear rela 
tion to the supposed power of this tree, as a protection against witches and evil spirits. 
Engravings. Audubon, Birds of America, iv., pi. ccclxiii. ; Selby, British Forest Trees, pp. 76 et 80; Loudon, Arboretum 
Britannicum, vi., pi. 183 et 184; and the figures below. 
Specific Characters. Petals spreading, flat. Styles 25. Pomes globose. Buds softly tomentose. 
Leaves impari-pinnate, serrated, and slightly glabrous. Flowers in branched corymbs. De Candolle, 
Prodromus. 
Description. 
" But what is higher beyond thought than thee ? 
Fresher than berries of a mountain-tree V 
Keats. 
>jWMH.E Mountain Ash forms an 
sg erect-stemmed tree, some- 
% times growing to a height 
^8i of twenty or thirty feet, with 
i trunk a foot or more in diameter. When fully 
grown, like most of its congeners, it assumes a some- 
what formal character, having an orbicular head ; but f{j 
in a young state, its branches are disposed in a more 
loose and graceful manner. The bark is smooth and 
gray on the old wood, but when young, it is of a pur- 
plish-brown. The leaves are composed of eight or 
nine pair of leaflets, which are spear-shaped, notched 
at the edges, except at the base, and terminated by 
an odd one. They are smooth above, and nearly so 
beneath, with channelled midribs, but no foot-stalks. 
