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American Mountain Ash
Botanical Name: Sorbus americana (Marsh.)
Other Common Names: Rowan Tree, Rowan Berry, Mountain Ash, and Service Tree
| Description | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tree Form | n/a |  |
| Leaves: | Alternate, compound, 15cm to 25cm long, composed of 11 to 17 leaflets borne in pairs on a moderately stout stem. Leaflets lance-shaped, rounded to wedge-shaped at the base, sharp- pointed at the tip fine-toothed almost to the base, 5cm to 9cm long; bright green above, paler and slightly hairy below |  |
Flowers: | May-June, after the leaves, bisexual, white about 6mm in diameter; borne in broad, flat- topped clusters |  |
Fruit: | August, rounded, berry-like, about 6mm in diameter, bright red, glossy; often remaining on the tree over winter |  |
Twigs: | Stout, smooth, sometimes slightly hairy, reddish-brown, spotted with numerous lenticels. Terminal bug large, conical, about 13mm long, with gummy, dark purplish-red, smooth or slightly hairy scales; lateral buds smaller |  |
Bark: | Thin, smooth, reddish-brown on young stems; light grey, smooth or with a few loose scales on old trunks |  |
Wood: | Light, soft, weak, close-grained, diffuse-porous; pale brown with lighter coloured sapwood | n/a |
Like the Showy Mountain Ash, the American Mountain Ash is found throughout P.E.I.
It is a small tree, often bushy or shrub-like, rarely exceeding 9m in height and 20cm in diameter.
The trunk is usually short with a flat-topped crown made up of stout ascending branches. It can be easily separated from the Showy Mountain Ash by its small flowers and fruit, and its narrow, lance-shaped, fine-toothed leaflets.
It prefers rich open sites but is not confined to these. It never grows in pure stands but is found growing alone or in small clumps along the borders of stream, margins of swamps and is damp woods.
Like its close relative, the Showy Mountain Ash, the wood has no commercial importance. It is used in ornamental planting but it not nearly as handsome or as hardy as the Showy Mountain Ash.
This information has been taken from www.gov.pe.ca