In folklore, these five-pointed stars were believed to ward off evil. Every autumn, rowans produce clusters of gleaming scarlet berries, redder and more vibrant than a maiden's blushing cheeks. The old Celtic name for it, fid nandruad, means 'the wizard's tree' and one of its common English names is 'witchwood', a link that probably derives from its fruit. From driving back witches to saving gods from certain death, it has been no mere plant, but a symbol of safety and agent of protection.Īcross the British Isles, the rowan's association with magic is as old as our most ancient legends. Yet that is precisely what has happened with the humble rowan, a tree so steeped in folklore and legend that it is hard to think of it as simply a thing of Nature. IT is strange to think that, for centuries, something so seemingly ordinary and so apparently inanimate as a tree could captivate people across the world and embody the hopes and fears of diverse cultures.

Aeneas Dennison walks into a forest of myths - Aeneas Dennison A kind of tree magic Country Life UK | DecemWhen it comes to driving away witches or warding off evil, nothing beats the rowan tree, with its gleaming scarlet berries and pentagram markings.