"I cannot recall a single instance where one of my own rowan wands has gone on to do evil in the world."
-- Mr. Ollivander (Pm)
A wand wood (Pm).
- A rowan wand is protective and creates "defensive charms especially strong and difficult to break." It is also a good wand for duelling. This wand is almost never attracted to an evil wizard, but to the "pure-hearted," giving the wand a "reputation for virtue" (Pm).
- The Wiggentree is a magical form of rowan, and touching it will save you from Dark creatures (Pm). The bark is used in the Wiggenweld Potion to reverse the Draught of Living Death (FW, Pm)
Commentary
Etymology
rountree (1540s), northern English and Scottish, Swedish Ronn = the root of red, in reference to the berries
Notes
The rowan tree, or mountain ash, is a member of the Rose family, with clusters of white flowers in the spring and bright red berries which were thought to frighten away evil. Its old Celtic name is 'fid na ndruad', or "Wizards' Tree." In Ireland and Wales they were planted as magical protection for houses and churchyards. In Scotland it was considered a sin to cut down a rowan. source: Woodland Trust UK
In a legend from Finland, the goddess Rauni came from the sky and became a Rowan Tree. The god of Thunder struck the tree with lightning and from that spread all the plants of the earth. "Rowan" is also connected to the word "Rune," since magical runes were carved from the wood of the tree.
One of tree-people or Ents in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy is named Bregalad but his nickname is "Quickbeam," another name for the Rowan tree. He tells a tale and sings a song about the Orcs cutting down his beloved trees.
‘There were rowan-trees in my home,’ said Bregalad, softly and sadly, ‘rowan-trees that took root when I was an Enting, many many years ago in the quiet of the world. The oldest were planted by the Ents to try and please the Entwives; but they looked at them and smiled and said that they knew where whiter blossom and richer fruit were growing. Yet there are no trees of all that race, the people of the Rose, that are so beautiful to me. And these trees grew and grew, till the shadow of each was like a green hall, and their red berries in the autumn were a burden, and a beauty and a wonder.Birds used to flock there. I like birds, even when they chatter; and the rowan has enough and to spare. But the birds became unfriendly and greedy and tore at the trees, and threw the fruit down and did not eat it. Then Orcs came with axes and cut down my trees. I came and called them by their long names, but they did not quiver, they did not hear or answer: they lay dead.
. . . O rowan fair, upon your hair how white the blossom lay!
O rowan mine, I saw you shine upon a summer's day,