Sorbus aucuparia, commonly called rowan (/ˈroʊən/, [3] also UK: /ˈraʊən/) and mountain-ash, is a species of deciduous tree or shrub in the rose family.

A recent definition[4] includes trees native to most of Europe and parts of Asia, as well as northern Africa.

[4] The plant is frost hardy and colonizes disrupted and inaccessible places as a short-lived pioneer species.

[5] The crown is loose and roundish or irregularly shaped but wide and the plant often grows multiple trunks.

[6][7] A trunk is slender and cylindrical and reaches up to 40 cm (15+1⁄2 inches) in diameter, and the branches stick out and are slanted upwards.

[8] The bark of a young plant is yellowish gray and gleaming and becomes gray-black with lengthwise cracks in advanced age; it descales in small flakes.

It is diffuse-porous, flexible, elastic, and tough, but not durable, with a density of 600 to 700 kg/m3 (1,000 to 1,200 pounds per cubic yard) in a dried state.

[20] The flowers are between 8 and 10 mm (3⁄8 and 3⁄8 inch) in diameter and have five small, yellowish green, and triangular sepals that are covered in hairs or bare.

[9][17][36] It can be found in light woodland of all kinds and as a pioneer species over fallen dead trees or in clearcuttings, and at the edge of forests or at the sides of roads.

[8] The seeds germinate easily, so the plant may appear on inaccessible rock, ruins, branch forks, or on hollow trees.

[8] The tallest S. aucuparia in the United Kingdom stands in the Chiltern Hills in South East England.

[41] They are liked particularly by thrushes and other songbirds, and are also eaten by cloven-hoofed game, red fox, European badger, dormouse, and squirrel.

[18][21] The fruit are eaten by migratory birds in winter, including Bohemian waxwing, spotted nutcracker, and redwing.

[42] In Central Europe it often grows in association with red elderberry, goat willow, Eurasian aspen, and silver birch.

[44] The main pests for S. aucuparia are the apple fruit moth Argyresthia conjugella and the mountain-ash sawfly Hoplocampa alpina.

[21][36] Pharmacist Mannfried Pahlow wrote that he questioned the toxicity of the fruit but advised against consuming large amounts.

[50] Sorbus aucuparia fruits have been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally (as tea, syrup, jelly or liqueur) for treatment of disorders of the respiratory tract, fever, infections, colds, flu, rheumatism and gout.

[51] Due to their bitterness, raw rowan berries normally are not very palatable, but can be debittered and made into compote, jelly, jam, a tart syrup or chutney, pressed into juice.

[23][54] The robust qualities of S. aucuparia make it a source for fruit in harsh mountain climate and Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg monarchy, recommended the planting of the species in 1779.

[35] The oldest Finnish candy still commercially produced, Pihlaja, is named after and originally contained rowanberries.

moravica Dippel, was first discovered in 1810 near Ostružná in the Hrubý Jeseník mountain range of Northern Moravia and became widespread in Germany and Austria the early 20th century.

[57] Similar non-bitter varieties found in Southern Russia were first introduced in Central Europe in 1900 as 'Rossica' and 'Rossica Major', which has large fruit up to 1.5 cm (5⁄8 in) in diameter.

[62] Russian botanist Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin began in 1905 to crossbreed common S. aucuparia with other species to create fruit trees.

[50] Fruits are eaten as a mash in small amounts against lack of appetite or an upset stomach and stimulate production of gastric acid.

[48][65][66] ‘Sheerwater Seedling',[67] an upright and slender cultivar, and 'Wisley Gold'[68] with yellow fruits, have received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

[71][72][73] The plant was called "the witch" in England and dowsing rods to find ores were made out of its wood.

[71] In weather lore, a year with plentiful rowan fruit would have a good grain harvest but be followed by a severe winter.

[75] S. aucuparia is used in the coats of arms of the German municipalities Ebernhahn, Eschenrode, and Hermsdorf, and of the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic.