282 



THE MOUNTAIN ASH. 



power of killing plants, and drying up their sap 

 with a look, had come to this very tree and gazed 

 on it intently ; ^ but/ said the old man, who told 

 me this, with an air of triumph, ^look as he 

 might, he could do the tree no harm ; ' a fact of 

 which I made no question. I was amused and 

 surprised to find the superstition which, in Eng- 

 land and Scotland, attaches to the Rowan-tree, 

 here applied to a tree of nearly similar form. 

 Which nation has been in this the imitator, or 

 from what common centre are all these common 

 notions derived ? " 



The Mountain Ash is found in a native state 

 throughout the whole of Europe, and in several 

 of the northern countries of Asia and North 

 America. The parts of Great Britain where it 

 attains its largest size are the western Highlands 

 and the western coast of Scotland. On the hills 

 of Cheshire and Derbyshire it does not often 

 attain a great size : in such situations an entire 

 tree, wdth roots, leaves, and flowers, is sometimes 

 found not more than nine inches high. Ordina- 

 rily it grows very rapidly during the first five years 

 of its existence, and at the age of twenty years 

 forms a tree of the same number of feet with a 

 single erect stem and a bushy head. The branches 

 are smooth, and vary in colour from grey to pur- 

 plish-bromi. The buds, before their expansion 

 in the beginning of April, are large and downy. 

 The leaves consist of from seven to nine pairs of 

 narrow, acute, notched leaflets, terminated by an 

 odd one. These are somewhat downy underneath 

 in their young state, but soon become quite smooth. 

 The flowers are numerous, resembling in shape 

 those of the Pear, but much smaller ; in odour. 



