Rowan Berries (Day)

Rowan Berries (Day) - The rowan is a small tree with smooth bark that rarely reaches 10 metres. Leaves are sparsely and unevenly figured, with 5-8 pairs of lanceolate, serrate segments and a terminal segment, all well divided and with their own petiole. Flowers are golden-white and in dense, many-flowered umbels. The fruits are red and spherical and ripen in August, but remain attached until late winter. The fruit is a fleshy stone fruit, a berry-like 'false' fruit, the juicy and fleshy part being formed by the base of the flower, while the walls of the carpels form a thin carina around the seeds. Spread is common to very common, but far from only, in nutrient-poor regions. It blooms in May-June. In late summer it is often recognised by the shiny orange-red berries.