Our American Mountain Ash Trees (Sorbus americana) are now bursting with their outrageous orange berries. These trees are the subjects of considerable mystery and folklore. For example, no one seems to know why they’re called ash trees. They’re not ashes, they’re members the rose family.
They’re also called Rowan Trees here because our settlers from the British Isles mistakenly thought that they were the same as European Rowan Trees (Sorbus aucuparia). The Celts (and some of America’s colonists) thought Rowan trees warded off witches and had other magical properties. Across our northern border in Canada, American Mountain Ash Trees also are known as Dogberry Trees and their berries are used to make popular Dogberry Jam there.
But, it’s an Ojibwa Tribe legend about the trees that gives us pause, as we look at the multitudes of orange orbs hanging from them now. The legend is that, if there are many Mountain Ash berries in late summer and fall, the winter is sure to be very harsh. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on September 7, 2022.)