Mountain Ash

=Habitat and Range.=--River banks, cool woods, swamps, and mountains.



Newfoundland to Manitoba.



Maine,--common; New Hampshire,--common along the watersheds of the

Connecticut and Merrimac rivers and on the slopes of the White

mountains; Vermont,--abundant far up the slopes of the Green mountains;

Massachusetts,--Graylock, Wachusett, Watatic, and other mountainous

regions; rare eastward; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--occasional in the

northern sections.



South, in cold swamps and along the mountains to North Carolina;

west to Michigan and Minnesota.



=Habit.=--A small tree, 15-20 feet high, often attaining in the woods of

northern Maine and on the slopes of the White mountains a height of

25-30 feet, with a trunk diameter of 12-15 inches; reduced at its

extreme altitudes to a low shrub; head, in open ground, pyramidal or

roundish; branches spreading and slender.



=Bark.=--Closely resembling bark of P. sambucifolia.



=Winter Buds and Leaves.,=--Buds more or less scythe-shaped, acute,

smooth, glutinous. Leaves pinnately compound, alternate; stem grooved,

enlarged at base, reddish-brown above; stipules deciduous; leaflets

11-19, 2-4 inches long, bright green above, paler beneath, smooth,

narrow-oblong or lanceolate, the terminal often elliptical, finely and

sharply serrate above the base; apex acuminate; base roundish to acute

and unequally sided; sessile or nearly so, except in the odd leaflet.



=Inflorescence.=--In terminal, densely compound, large and flattish

cymes; calyx 5-lobed; petals 5, white, roundish, short-clawed; stamens

numerous; ovary inferior; styles 3.



=Fruit.=--Round, bright red, about the size of a pea, lasting into

winter.



=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; prefers a good,

well-drained soil; rate of growth slow and nearly uniform. It is readily

transplanted and would be useful on the borders of woods, in plantations

of low trees, and in seaside exposures. Rare in nurseries and seldom for

sale by collectors. The readily obtainable and more showy European P.

aucuparia is to be preferred for ornamental purposes.






1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch.

3. Flower with part of perianth and stamens removed.

4. Petal.

5. Fruiting branch.





=Pyrus sambucifolia, Cham. & Schlecht.=



Sorbus sambucifolia, R[oe]m.