Cherry wood Bowl

 Cherry wood is hard, fine-grained and used for turning, especially the large burrs with unusual grains which can appear on the trunk. Its red-brown wood polishes up well to a deep, shiny brown colour. In some parts of the Highlands there were taboos against the use of the tree but none seemed widespread or to have persisted over the centuries. In a way, this may reflect the nature of these cherry trees, in that they were not long lived, nor grew anywhere in large quantities. Rather, they seemed to appear singly or in small groups, sometimes on the edge of woods.  The fact that they were briefly conspicuous in spring, through the beautifully vibrant displays of blossom on their branches, followed by drifts of fallen petals on the hillsides around them, gave a somewhat mysterious quality in folklore, and to encounter one was considered auspicious and fateful.