Western Mountain-Ash (Sorbus scopulina).

There are three main species: European, Sitka and Western.

The mountain-ash is not an ash tree, but leaflets (presumably individual) are thought to resemble the ash.

Common Name(s): Western Mountain-Ash, Greene's Mountain-Ash, Mountain-Ash.

Scientific Name: Sorbus scopulina.   Scopulina means "of the rocks or cliffs".

General Info: A several-stemmed deciduous shrub, 3-15 ft. tall.

Ecology:  Widespread and common at low to subalpine levels in moist forests, openings and clearings.  Generally absent from warmer, arid areas.

Range:   Western mountain-ash is native to broad areas in the southern half of Alaska, and broad areas of the Yukon, Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and scattered areas in Oregon, California, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico.

Flowers: White and small, up to 200 in flat-topped to rounded clusters.  May - early July.

Fruits: Orange to scarlet glossy berry-like pomes, which persist into winter.

Leaves:  Alternate, divided into 9-13 oblong yellow-green leaflets with sharp pointed tips.  Most of the length of a leaflet is sharply toothed.

EDIBILITY: Edible. But not great.

Notes:

Winter buds and early growth are white-hairy and sticky to the touch (as contrasted to the Sitka Mountain-Ash). 

Many birds, (notably Bohemian Waxwings), eat the berries, and elk, wapiti, and deer, browse on the twigs.

The bitter-tasting fruits of these trees are high in vitamin C and CAN be eaten raw . Usually they are cooked or dried. In British Columbia, some of the aboriginal peoples were known to have consumed Sitka mountain ash fruit and possibly the fruit of the Western Mountain ash but most pioneer Canadians considered them inedible.

 High in vitamin C, the berries of the Western Mountain ash have been used to make jams, jellies  pies, ale and a bitter sweet wine.

In  Northern Europe, the berries, which can be quite mealy, were historically dried and ground into flour, which was later fermented and used to make a strong liquor.

In Canada, the most common use was as a marinade for such meats as marmot and ground squirrel (Brunswick Stew), or as a flavouring for salmon head soup (this is a particularly nutritious and delicious--the North American Aboriginal prably learned it from eaarly Norse or Europeans-- traditional in fishing communities worldwide) soup well worth the making if your cooking char, salmon or other larger fish.

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.