Plant Family: Rosaceae
Growth Form: Small tree up to 10 meters in height.
Leaves / Buds: Alternate, compound, with 11 – 17 narrowly elliptic, toothed leaflets that come to a sharp point; rachis red or green; leaflet length is greater than three times the width; the first pair of leaflets typically angle back toward the twig. Winter buds are red-brown and sticky.
Bark: Light gray, smooth, with lenticels.
Flowers: Small, white, with five petals, held in showy rounded, or flat-topped clusters; May to June.
Fruits: Small, 7 mm in diameter, apple-like, orange to red-orange, in large showy clusters; ripen in August and September; may remain on the tree into winter.
Habitat: Cool, moist, open woods, swamp edges, mountain slopes; cold hardy.
Range: Throughout most of New England, north to Newfoundland, west to Minnesota, and south in the Appalachians to northern Georgia; absent from Cape Cod.
Similar Species: In Northern Mountain-Ash, leaflet length is less than three times the width.
Comments: The twigs and leaves are a favorite browse of deer and especially moose; robins, waxwings and many other birds and small mammals feed on the fruits.
