MOUNTAIN-ASH TREE. 



PYRUS AUCUPARIA. 



POMACES. ICOSANDRIA TRJGYNIA. 



This tree is a species of service, called the mountain service : it 

 is also called quicken tree, witchen tree, and roan, or rowan tree. 

 It is here placed apart from the common service, only because it is 

 now so generally known by the name of mountain ash, that many 

 persons would not know it under that head. In Scotland it is as 

 commonly called the roan tree. French, sorbier des oiseleurs, 

 bird-catcher's service ; Italian, sorbo salvatico. 



THE Mountain Ash is an elegant tree in all seasons of 

 the year. The leaves are pinnate, (the reader will un- 

 derstand that a pinnate leaf, composed of several pairs of 

 leaflets placed opposite at regular distances, in botanical 

 language, is, in common parlance, a spray on which are 

 placed so many leaves in pairs,) notched at the edges, 

 without footstalks, having a channeled mid-rib, often 

 tinged with purple. 



It is a native of the colder parts of Europe, as Mount 

 Lebanon, Siberia, and in boggy and mountainous si- 

 tuations in the north of England, Wales, Scotland, and 

 Ireland. In the south of England it is seldom found of 

 any considerable size, but in the northern counties, and 

 in Wales, there are large trees, although the growth is 

 slow. The blossoms are white, and sweet scented ; 

 blowing in May, in little clusters or corymbs, and are 

 succeeded by berries which, when ripe, are of a brilliant 

 red colour. The blackbirds and thrushes are so fond 



