The Rowan is a pretty little tree which comes into its own in the autumn when it produces red berries which are quite bright and contrast wonderfully with its green leaves. It is popular in outer London, but relatively rare in central London.

              The example here, at Tower Hill, is quite good in that it has a forked trunk which is quite common with the Rowan but by no means always the case.

                The Rowan is sometimes known as the mountain ash. This is probably owing to there being a similarity in its leaves to the Ash, which are pinnately compound (see the section on tree identification). Actually the Rowan is not related to the ash; it belongs to the Sorbus family which also includes the whitebeam. It does not grow nearly as high as the ash, which is why it is a popular garden tree, and it produces berries not samaras, which are the fruit of the Ash (see identification section).

          The rowan tree was considered to have magical characteristics by the Druids in the days before the Romans. All the magical characteristics in question being good ones, so there is nothing to be worried about.