Mountain Ash

Back in the child days, when I was given the name of Uinnseann, after the mountain ash I hated it to the core. They are dull, twisted and become colourful only for a brief in autumn. But each of them is hundreds of years old. And they can withstand a great lot.

— Luábé of Gáláwá

Characteristics

A small and slow-growing tree that inhabits the entire Gáláwá Mountain Ridge, but was observed to favour Mount Gloine forming an entire grove — Mountain Ash Grove.

Tradition and culture

Mountain ash is a tree strongly connected to the Autumn path to Ædeos, especially the berries, which ripen around the ninth turn of the moon. It is also then, that the tree loses its thick outer bark to leave a smooth, young one, for which in Gáláwá it is considered a symbol of rejuvenation and rebirth. On rare occassions, when some trees were broken from an avalanche, the branches were gathered and processed. The wood is orangy in colour with bleakish grey rings. It is very heavy and difficult to process, very resistant to fire. At times it can be seen as parts of jewelry, especially favoured by the Luaithre (also known as the Ash-folk).

Biology

The tree uses an ash layer as protection agains the environment. As the bark grows throughout the year, around autumn it peels away and falls to the ground alkalizing the soil. This was observed to give the mountain ash advantage in the environment by eliminating plants competing for water and, in fact, creating a small circle of barren land around the tree.

The peeling process darkens part of the xylem dark grey, creating darker rings inside the wood. The coloration comes from small particles of the ash diffusing slightly into the wood, heated from the peeling.

Around that time, the orange red berries mature and are almost ready to harvest. Should one wait for the frost to come, they would turn out slightly sweet.

Cultural use

The peeled off bark is a magnificent resource of alkali and was used by Luaithre for preparing a special type of forest glass. This one would be prepared seasonally and used for special occassions. Skalds, who work on a regular basis with Ash-folk value this type of glass for its strong connection to the Autumn path to the Ædeos. As a seasonal product made of limited resources it is usually not very cheap.