Sorbus aucuparia · Probable
Rowan
Sorbus aucuparia
European rowan as named in British and northern European plant folklore collections.
Profile research status
This stable record is still in evidence review. Its current identity, cultural scope, image, and direct source records are available here; a complete history, myth, worship, iconography, relationship, and reception profile is not yet claimed.
Direct connections and evidence
Cross Source
protective rowan customs
The edge preserves named protective customs without treating them as universal plant meanings. Physical preparation is not recommended.
2 attestations · high confidence
- T. F. Thiselton-Dyer, The Folk-Lore of PlantsFirst edition · Wellcome Collection · Customs collected in nineteenth-century folklore surveys · Scottish Highlands, German villages, and broader European folklore · Book The Folk-Lore of Plants · Chapter IV · Section Lightning Plants · Page 43-44
- Richard Folkard, Plant Lore, Legends, and LyricsFirst edition · Wellcome Collection · Customs collected in nineteenth-century folklore surveys · Scottish Highlands, German villages, and broader European folklore · Book Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics · Chapter Magical Plants · Page 110
Explicit Source
wood for divining rods
The record describes a collected historical custom rather than a universal property of rowan.
1 attestation · high confidence
- Richard Folkard, Plant Lore, Legends, and LyricsFirst edition · Wellcome Collection · European practices summarized in an 1884 comparative survey · European comparative plant folklore · Book Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics · Section Introduction · Page xviii-xix
Reviewed sources
- T. F. Thiselton-Dyer, The Folk-Lore of Plants (1889)First edition · Wellcome Collection
- Richard Folkard, Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics (1884)First edition · Wellcome Collection