Rowan Rowan The rowans or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus "Sorbus" of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the mountains of western China and the Himalaya, where numerous apomictic microspecies occur. The name "rowan" was originally applied to the species "Sorbus aucuparia" and is also used for other species in "Sorbus" subgenus "Sorbus". Formerly, when a wider variety of fruits were commonly eaten in Europe and North America, "Sorbus" was a domestically used fruit throughout these regions. It is still used in
Sorbus aucuparia be applied to other species in "Sorbus" subgenus "Sorbus", and mountain ash may be used for several other distantly related trees. The species is unrelated to the true ash trees (genus "Fraxinus"), which also carry pinnate leaves or the species "Eucalyptus regnans", also called mountain ash, native to Tasmania and Victoria in southeastern Australia. "S. aucuparia" was previously categorized as "Pyrus aucuparia". The author citation "Sorbus aucuparia" L. belongs to Carl Linnaeus. "Sorbus aucuparia" occurs as a tree or shrub that grows up to between 5 and 15 m in height. The crown is loose and roundish or irregularly shaped