Every ogham letter has a tree attached to it in the medieval books. Some of those trees are what the letter name always meant, and the rest were fitted to it centuries later. This page sorts the two, then lists the trees that are actually native to Ireland, with their Irish names.
The medieval Irish scholars who wrote the Auraicept na n-Éces and the Ogam Tract believed every ogham letter was named after a tree, and they glossed each name with one. The modern ogham scholar Damian McManus has shown that at most eight of the twenty original names are tree names. The tree alphabet idea dates to around the 10th century, long after the stones were carved. The rest were "more or less forcefully reinterpreted" as trees. Robert Graves's tree calendar in The White Goddess, the source of most modern "Celtic tree" lore, has been discredited by scholars.
Of the twenty original letters: 6 are tree names, 2 possibly are, and 12 originally meant something else. The five later letters (forfeda) have only their medieval glosses. To write a name in these letters, use the ogham writer.
"Meant" is the letter name's meaning as Damian McManus reconstructs it. "Tree given" is the gloss of the medieval Auraicept na n-Éces. The kenning is the old two-word riddle for the letter (bríatharogam), in McManus's translation, where Wikipedia quotes it.
| Letter | Name | Meant | Tree given | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ᚁ B | beith | birch-tree Kenning: "of withered trunk fairhaired the birch" |
birch | A tree name |
| ᚂ L | luis | probably "blaze" (luise), or "herb" (lus) Kenning: "[delightful] for eye is luis (i.e. rowan) owing to the beauty of its berries". The "for the eye" phrasing supports the meaning "blaze". |
rowan (caertheand) | Not a tree originally |
| ᚃ F | fearn | alder-tree Kenning: "the van of the warrior-bands (i.e. alder), for thereof are the shields" |
alder | A tree name |
| ᚄ S | sail | willow-tree Kenning: "the colour of a lifeless one", from the likeness of its hue to a dead person |
willow | A tree name |
| ᚅ N | nion | "fork" or "loft" Kenning: "a check on peace is nin (i.e. ash), for of it are made spear-shafts by which the peace is broken" |
ash (uinnius) | Not a tree originally |
| ᚆ H | úath | "horror, fear"; the original etymology is unclear Kenning: "a meet of hounds is huath". The Auraicept adds "(i.e. white-thorn); or because it is formidable for its thorns". |
whitethorn (hawthorn) | Not a tree originally |
| ᚇ D | dair | oak Kenning: "higher than bushes is an oak" |
oak | A tree name |
| ᚈ T | tinne | "bar of metal, ingot" Kenning: "a third of a wheel is tinne", explained as holly being one of the three timbers of a chariot wheel |
holly (cuileand) | Not a tree originally |
| ᚉ C | coll | hazel-tree Kenning: "every one is eating from its nuts" |
hazel | A tree name |
| ᚊ Q | ceirt | related to Welsh perth "bush"; confused with ceirt "rag" Kenning: "shelter of a wild hind is queirt, i.e. an apple tree" |
apple (aball) | Not a tree originally |
| ᚋ M | muin | "neck", "wile" or "love, esteem" (the kennings point to all three) Kenning: "highest of beauty is muin, i.e. because it grows aloft, i.e. a vine-tree" |
vine (finemhain) | Not a tree originally |
| ᚌ G | gort | "field" (related to garden) Kenning: "greener than pastures is gort (i.e. ivy)" |
ivy (edind) | Not a tree originally |
| ᚍ NG | ngéadal | probably "killing" Kenning: "a leech's sustenance is getal (i.e. broom)" |
broom or fern (cilcach) | Not a tree originally |
| ᚎ Z | straif | "sulphur" Kenning: "the hedge of a stream is sraibh (i.e. blackthorn)" |
blackthorn (draighin) | Not a tree originally |
| ᚏ R | ruis | "red" or "redness" Kenning: "the redness of shame is ruis (i.e. elder)" |
elder (trom) | Not a tree originally |
| ᚐ A | ailm | uncertain; possibly "pine-tree", as it seems to mean in an 8th-century poem | fir or pine | Possibly a tree name |
| ᚑ O | onn | ash-tree | furze (aiten), wrongly according to McManus | A tree name |
| ᚒ U | úr | "earth, clay, soil" | heath (fraech) | Not a tree originally |
| ᚓ E | eadhadh | unknown | aspen, or "test-tree" | Not a tree originally |
| ᚔ I | iodhadh | uncertain; probably an altered form of ibar "yew" | yew | Possibly a tree name |
Sources: Wikipedia, Ogham ↗ · Wikipedia, Bríatharogam ↗, both drawing on McManus, "Irish letter-names and their kennings", Ériu 39 (1988), and A Guide to Ogam (1991). The ogham page has how the stones were carved and read.
The Tree Council of Ireland counts as native the trees that reached Ireland after the Ice Age, carried by birds and animals or on the wind, before the seas rose and cut it off. Irish names are given as the Tree Council writes them. The ogham column shows the letter the medieval glossators gave to that tree, which does not mean the letter was named after it (see above).
| Tree | Irish | Latin | Ogham |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alder | Fearnóg | Alnus glutinosa | ᚃ fearn |
| Arbutus (strawberry tree) Disputed. The Tree Council lists it as native, but Wikipedia reports that genetic studies suggest it may have been brought to Ireland in the Chalcolithic, not arrived on its own. It is most common in the west, and is also called the Killarney strawberry-tree. Wikipedia ↗ |
Caithne | Arbutus unedo | · |
| Ash | Fuinseóg | Fraxinus excelsior | ᚅ nion |
| Aspen | Crann Creathach | Populus tremula | ᚓ eadhadh |
| Birch (downy) | Beith Chlúmhach | Betula pubescens | ᚁ beith |
| Birch (silver) | Beith Gheal | Betula pendula | ᚁ beith |
| Blackthorn (sloe) | Draighean | Prunus spinosa | ᚎ straif |
| Cherry (bird) | Donnroisc | Prunus padus | · |
| Cherry (wild) | Crann silíní fiáin | Prunus avium | · |
| Crab apple | Crann Fia-úll | Malus sylvestris | ᚊ ceirt |
| Elder | Tromán | Sambucus nigra | ᚏ ruis |
| Guelder rose | Caorchon | Viburnum opulus | · |
| Hawthorn (whitethorn) | Sceach Gheal | Crataegus monogyna | ᚆ úath |
| Hazel | Coll | Corylus avellana | ᚉ coll |
| Holly | Cuileann | Ilex aquifolium | ᚈ tinne |
| Juniper | Aiteal | Juniperus communis | · |
| Oak (pedunculate) | Dair Ghallda | Quercus robur | ᚇ dair |
| Oak (sessile) | Dair Ghaelach | Quercus petraea | ᚇ dair |
| Rowan (mountain ash) | Caorthann | Sorbus aucuparia | ᚂ luis |
| Scots pine Native, but Wikipedia says the Irish population became practically extinct between 2,000 and 1,000 years ago, its ground taken by blanket bog, and that it was later reintroduced. Wikipedia ↗ |
An Giúis | Pinus sylvestris | ᚐ ailm |
| Spindle | Feoras | Euonymus europaeus | ᚖ óir |
| Whitebeam Includes the Irish whitebeam (Aria hibernica, Fionncholl gaelach), found only in Ireland. It grows in most counties, usually singly, and estimates of the total population range from 250 to 1,000 trees. Wikipedia ↗ |
Fionncholl | Sorbus spp. | · |
| Willow (eared) | Saileach | Salix aurita | ᚄ sail |
| Willow (goat) | Saileach | Salix caprea | ᚄ sail |
| Willow (grey) | Saileach | Salix cinerea | ᚄ sail |
| Willow (white) | Saileach | Salix alba | ᚄ sail |
| Wych elm | Leamhán Sléibhe | Ulmus glabra | · |
| Yew | Iúr | Taxus baccata | ᚔ iodhadh |
Source: Tree Council of Ireland, Native Irish Trees ↗. The Tree Council writes the spindle's Latin name "Euonymous"; the usual spelling is used here. It gives one Irish name, saileach, for all four willows. Beech, sycamore, horse chestnut, spruce, larch and fir were all brought in by people, and are not native.
Each item is labelled: folklore is belief recorded in recent centuries, medieval tradition is what the early literature and pseudo-histories say, and on the record is documented fact.
A hawthorn standing alone in a field is held to belong to the fairies, and cutting it brings misfortune. Bare patches worn in the grass beneath one were said to be where the fairies danced.
Irish superstitions · Wikipedia: Irish folklore ↗ · Wikipedia: Latoon fairy bush ↗
Early Irish literature celebrates sacred trees, the bile, that grew at royal inauguration sites. Cutting down an enemy's sacred tree was an act of war and a symbol of conquest, and the Irish annals record such trees up to the 12th century.
Ardbraccan in County Meath, whose old name is given as Magh Tortain, is said to have been home to two of Ireland's sacred trees: Bile Tortain and the Mullyfaughan tree. Wikipedia's Celtic sacred trees article lists the Tree of Tortu among the famous ash trees, with the Tree of Uisnech and the Bough of Dathí. Beyond these short mentions our sources tell us little about it. We have not read the medieval texts ourselves.
According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn, the medieval pseudo-history of Ireland, the sacred oak of early Ireland was the tree of Mugna, probably at or near Dunmanogoe in south County Kildare.
Irish mythology puts a sacred tree, the Bile Uisnig, at Uisneach in County Westmeath, the hill described as the sacred centre of Ireland.
Kildare is Cill Dara, "church of the oak", where St Brigid founded her monastery. Derry is Doire, from Doire Calgaich, "Calgach's oak grove", which St Colum Cille favoured. Durrow is from dair magh, "oak plain".
There are recorded cases in Irish history of people refusing to cut an ash even when wood was scarce, for fear their own cabins would burn.
Alder was regarded with awe in Ireland apparently because its cut wood turns from white to red. Felling one was once punishable, and the source says it is still avoided.
Many individual elder trees in Ireland were thought to be haunted by fairies or demons.
In the stories, hazels of wisdom grew at the heads of Ireland's chief rivers and over Connla's Well. Their nuts fell into the water and were eaten by salmon. The salmon of wisdom that Fionn mac Cumhaill tasted had eaten them.
Wikipedia's Cuilcagh article says Cuilcagh, on the Cavan–Fermanagh border, was the birthplace of the Irish yew, also known as the Florence Court yew, and that all Irish yews in the world descend from it.
Only partly. Medieval Irish scholars glossed every letter with a tree, but the modern scholar Damian McManus has shown that at most eight of the twenty original letter names are tree names: beith (birch), fearn (alder), sail (willow), dair (oak), coll (hazel) and onn (ash) for certain, with ailm (perhaps pine) and idad (perhaps yew) possible. Others meant things like fear (úath), a metal bar (tinne), a field (gort), sulphur (straif) and red (ruis).
The Tree Council of Ireland lists 28 native tree species: trees that reached Ireland on their own before rising seas cut it off from Britain and Europe. The most common include oak, ash, hazel, birch, Scots pine, rowan and willow. The status of two is debated: the arbutus may have been introduced by people, and the Scots pine died out and was reintroduced.
A lone hawthorn is held in folklore to belong to the fairies, and cutting one is said to bring misfortune. The belief is still strong enough to change plans: in 1999 a campaign by the storyteller Eddie Lenihan saved the Latoon fairy bush on the line of the Ennis bypass in County Clare.
As the Tree Council of Ireland gives them: sessile oak is dair ghaelach and pedunculate oak dair ghallda, ash is fuinseóg, and hawthorn is sceach gheal. The Old Irish ogham letter names include dair (oak) and coll (hazel), still the Irish words today.
Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA 4.0. Read October 2026.
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