By the end of June the Rowan flowers have faded and the creamy petals strew the ground. But the tree does not only depend for its beauty on the creamy flowers or on the changing leaves.
The swollen flower stalks have been growing all summer, and now the end of each stalk has become a small round berry (3), and a dense cluster of these berries hangs in a bunch from the main stem. In autumn these berries turn a rich yellow red, and very brilliant they look among the dark green leaves. Song birds love these Rowan berries, and so long as any remain on the tree the blackbird and thrush will be its constant visitors.
When corn was scarce in the hard winters of long ago these Rowan berries were dried and made into flour. Many people to-day make them into jelly, which is a rich golden colour, but has rather a bitter taste.
The wood of the Rowan tree is very tough, and is principally used for making poles.
PLATE XXVII
THE HAWTHORN
“Mark the fair blooming of the Hawthorn tree,
Who, finely clothed in a robe of white,
Fills full the wanton eye with May’s delight.”
—Chaucer.
We cannot think of the Hawthorn as one of our noble forest trees, like the Oak and the Beech; it is dear to us as a village tree, a friendly, bushy tree which has grown in our garden, or in the fields and meadows close to our country cottages. We remember the long sunny May days when we gathered armfuls of its lovely blossoms, and the frosty autumn mornings when its berries shone like rubies on the bare, wind-stripped branches. It has always been in close touch with our lives, and it has left many pictures graven deep in our memory.