Rowan is attested from the 1520s in the sense "fruit of the service tree", adopted via French "sorbe" from Latin "sorbum" "service-berry". "Sorbus domestica" is also known as "whitty pear", the adjective whitty meaning "pinnate". The name "mountain-ash" for "Sorbus domestica" is due to a superficial similarity of the rowan leaves to those of the ash, not to be confused in "Fraxinus ornus", a true ash that is also known as "mountain ash". "Sorbus torminalis" is also known as "chequer tree"; its fruits, formerly used to flavour beer, are called "chequers", perhaps from the spotted pattern of the fruit. The name
Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf the Aberdare branch of the Merthyr Line of the Transport for Wales rail network. Further to Mountain Ash railway station, the village of Fernhill and Penrhiwceiber is also served by the Aberdare line. Bus services are operated by Stagecoach in South Wales. An early British railway line had developed from the industrial development within the South Wales Valleys, which with its core centred around Mountain Ash became known as the Mountain Ash Railway (MAR). Having developed from an early tramway, it became in the 1970s the last core of steam locomotive operations in the UK. Developed by Powell Duffryn as