"The similarities in the physical characteristics of all three types of tree [viz., Fraxinus excelsior, Fraxinus ornus, and Sorbus aucuparia] are pervasive enough that they are confused not only in folk terminology, but also in botanical nomenclature". Richard Stoll Shannon (1975). The Arms of Achilles and Homeric Compositional Technique Volume 36 of Mnemosyne, (Brill), p. 41. The English herbalist John Gerard in 1590 apparently fell victim to just this confusion, equating ornus and quickbeam (see below).
Abram Smythe Palmer, Folk-etymology: a Dictionary of Verbal Corruptions Or Words Perverted in Form Or Meaning, by False Derivation Or Mistaken Analogy (1882), 443f.
