Illustration of rowan
- leaves and fruit
1
2
: the fruit of a European or American mountain ash
Examples of rowan in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Also known as rowan trees, mountain ash trees (Sorbus spp.) are small understory trees or shrubs that usually grow between 15 and 30 feet tall.
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Lauren Landers, Better Homes & Gardens, 24 Nov. 2025
Mixed oak woods, pine and birch, upland rowan.
—Literary Hub, 3 Nov. 2025
Opened in June 2024, its menu draws from ingredients grown on-site for dishes like delicately sweet Norwegian flatbread with butter made of truffle seaweed, sautéed fresh plaice served with baked root vegetables, and ice cream with fresh Arctic rowan leaves.
—Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 18 Dec. 2024
Aided by legislation that rewards landowners for increasing the biodiversity of the Welsh uplands, his group has been planting trees — more than 300,000 at this point, including that rowan.
—Tom Vanderbilt, Travel + Leisure, 25 June 2024
In southeast London’s Brockley Hill Park, opera singer Tristan Hambleton has been using a watering can to sustain a rowan sapling amid a parched meadow.
—Luke Vargas, WSJ, 29 Aug. 2022
As the island’s ice cap melts, the land is becoming more habitable for trees, of which there are four native species, most significantly the rowan or mountain ash.
—Nancy Lord, Anchorage Daily News, 15 May 2022
The stone structure had fallen into disrepair over the centuries, so the team removed an invading rowan tree and cleaned up its collapsed walls.
—Theresa MacHemer, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Apr. 2020
Tiny gardens: rowan tree, cherry tree, silver birch, ornamental willow—a horrible pompom on a stick.
—Anne Enright, The New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2020
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Lauren Landers, Better Homes & Gardens, 24 Nov. 2025
Mixed oak woods, pine and birch, upland rowan.
—Literary Hub, 3 Nov. 2025
Opened in June 2024, its menu draws from ingredients grown on-site for dishes like delicately sweet Norwegian flatbread with butter made of truffle seaweed, sautéed fresh plaice served with baked root vegetables, and ice cream with fresh Arctic rowan leaves.
—Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 18 Dec. 2024
Aided by legislation that rewards landowners for increasing the biodiversity of the Welsh uplands, his group has been planting trees — more than 300,000 at this point, including that rowan.
—Tom Vanderbilt, Travel + Leisure, 25 June 2024
In southeast London’s Brockley Hill Park, opera singer Tristan Hambleton has been using a watering can to sustain a rowan sapling amid a parched meadow.
—Luke Vargas, WSJ, 29 Aug. 2022
As the island’s ice cap melts, the land is becoming more habitable for trees, of which there are four native species, most significantly the rowan or mountain ash.
—Nancy Lord, Anchorage Daily News, 15 May 2022
The stone structure had fallen into disrepair over the centuries, so the team removed an invading rowan tree and cleaned up its collapsed walls.
—Theresa MacHemer, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Apr. 2020
Tiny gardens: rowan tree, cherry tree, silver birch, ornamental willow—a horrible pompom on a stick.
—Anne Enright, The New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2020
Cite this Entry
“Rowan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rowan. Accessed 1 Dec. 2025.
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