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The rowans (/ ˈ r aʊ ə n z / ROW-ənz or / ˈ r oʊ ə n z / ROH-ənz) [1] 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 Himalaya, southern Tibet and parts of western China, where numerous apomictic microspecies occur. [2]
Rowan berries are a favourite food, and are eaten whenever available. [14] Waxwings can eat huge numbers of berries, each bird sometimes consuming several hundred a day, more than double its own weight. One individual was recorded as eating between 600 and 1,000 cotoneaster berries in six hours, and defecating every four minutes. [12]
The berries of American mountain-ash are eaten by numerous species of birds, including ruffed grouse, ptarmigans, sharp-tailed grouse, blue grouse, American robins, other thrushes, waxwings, jays, and small mammals, such as squirrels and rodents. [10] American mountain-ash is a preferred browse for moose and white-tailed deer.
Berry-eating birds, like robins, bluebirds, and mockingbirds rarely eat birdseed, but they’ll love on soaked raisins and currents. Orioles and tanagers also adore fruit, especially skewered oranges.
Throughout the Cascade Mountains and the Pacific Northwest portions of this rowan's habitat, it is commonly called Cascade mountain-ash, sometimes listed as Sorbus scopulina var. cascadensis. [3] Various birds and mammals, including bears, eat the fruit. [4] They were eaten by Native Americans and early settlers, and be cooked and made into jelly.
Sorbus aucuparia, commonly called rowan (/ ˈ r oʊ ən /, [3] also UK: / ˈ r aʊ ən /) and mountain-ash, is a species of deciduous tree or shrub in the rose family. The tree has a slender trunk with smooth bark, a loose and roundish crown, and its leaves are pinnate in pairs of leaflets on a central vein with a terminal leaflet.
The berries are a favourite of birds, though less palatable (drier, less juicy) than rowan berries. Whitebeams are sometimes used as larval food plants by species of Lepidoptera , including the short-cloaked moth .
Frugivore seed dispersal is a common phenomenon in many ecosystems. However, it is not a highly specific type of plant–animal interaction. For example, a single species of frugivorous bird may disperse fruits from several species of plants, or a few species of bird may disperse seeds of one plant species. [3]