MOUNTAIN ASH. 275 



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. Its chief merit 

 now consists in being the ornament of landscape. 

 In the Scottish Highlands it becomes a consi- 

 derable tree. There, on some rocky mountain 

 covered with dark Pines and waving Birch, which 

 cast a solemn gloom over the lake below, a few 

 Mountain Ashes, joining in a clump, and mixing 

 with them, have a fine effect. In summer, the 

 light green tint of their foliage, and in autumn, 

 the glowing berries which hang clustering upon 

 them, contrast beautifully with the deeper green 

 of the Pines ; and, 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.' 

 Virgil says : 



* Nature seems to ordain 

 The rocky cliff for the wild Ash's reign.' 



The leaf of the Mountain Ash consists of a 

 series of elongated, oval, sharply-indented leaflets, 

 arranged, ordinarily, in opposite pairs upon the 

 common mid-stem, a single leaflet terminating the 



