The Rowan Tree (Mountain "Ash")

Vladimir used to make rowan-berry flavored vodka every year. The rowan berries are so red and pretty. There are also lots of beautiful English and Russian folksongs that mention this tree. It turns out that there is an awful lot of northern European folklore associated with the rowan tree. Vladimir said that the rowan berries are medicinal and that rowan (ryabina) berry vodka is considered not only delicious, but also as a curative for a variety of ills, mostly upper respiratory. When we looked up the translation for ryabina, the first listing was "mountain ash", although it is not a member of the ask family.

There is a lovely Russian folksong called "Tonkaya Ryabina" (Slender Rowan) that we used to sing in Moscow. Tanya used to play it on the flute, I played the balalaika, and the boys sang.

Here are some rowan tree links.

Species profile - The Rowan

Mythology and Folklore of the Rowan

Rowan - Wikipedia

We managed to get rowan branches in Stony Brook, I wonder if there are any around in northern California.