White Ash

=Habitat and Range.=--Rich or moist woods, fields and pastures, near

streams.



Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to Ontario.



Maine,--very common, often forming large forest areas; in the other New

England states, widely distributed, but seldom occurring in large

masses.



South to Florida; west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas.



=Habit.=--A all forest tree, 50-75 feet high, with a trunk diameter of

2-3 feet; rising in the rich bottom lands of the Ohio river 100 feet or

more, often in the forest half its height without a limb. In open

ground the trunk, separating at a height of a few feet, throws off two

or three large limbs, and is soon lost amid the slender, often gently

curving branches, forming a rather open, rounded head widest at or near

the base, with light and graceful foliage, and a stout, rather sparse,

glabrous, and sometimes flattish spray.



=Bark.=--Bark of trunk in mature trees easily distinguishable at some

distance by the characteristic gray color and uniform striation; ridges

prominent, narrow, flattish, firm, without surface scales but with fine

transverse seams; furrows fine and strong, sinuous, parallel or

connecting at intervals; large limbs more or less furrowed; smaller

branches smooth and grayish-green; season's shoots polished olive green;

leaf-scars prominent.



=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds short, rather prominent, smooth, dark or

pale rusty brown. Leaves pinnately compound, opposite, 6-12 inches long;

petiole smooth and grooved; leaflets 5-9, 2-5 inches long, deep green

and smooth above, paler and smooth, or slightly pubescent (at least when

young) beneath; ovate to lance-oblong, entire or somewhat toothed; apex

pointed; base obtuse, rounded or sometimes acute; leaflet stalks short,

smooth; stipules and stipels none.



=Inflorescence.=--May. In loose panicles from lateral or terminal buds

of the previous season's shoots, sterile and fertile flowers for the

most part on separate trees, numerous, inconspicuous; calyx in sterile

flowers 4-toothed, petals none, stamens 2-4, anthers oblong; calyx in

fertile flowers unequally 4-toothed or nearly entire, persistent; petals

none, stamens none, pistil 1, style 1, stigma 2-cleft.



=Fruit.=--Ripening in early fall, and hanging in clusters into the

winter; a samara or key 1-2 inches long, body nearly terete, marginless

below, dilating from near the tip into a wing two or three times as long

as the body.



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

moist, loamy soil, but grows in any well-drained situation; easily

transplanted, usually obtainable in nurseries, and can be collected

successfully. It is one of the most desirable native trees for landscape

and street plantations, on account of its rapid and clean growth,

freedom from disease, moderate shade, and richly colored autumn foliage.

As the leaves appear late in spring and fall early in autumn, it is

desirable to plant with other trees of different habit. Propagated from

seed.








1. Winter buds.

2. Branch with sterile flowers.

3. Sterile flowers.

4. Branch with fertile flowers.

5. Fertile flower.

6. Fruiting branch.





=Fraxinus Pennsylvanica, Marsh.=



Fraxinus pubescens, Lam.



RED ASH. BROWN ASH. RIVER ASH.



=Habitat and Range.=--River banks, swampy lowlands, margins of streams

and ponds.



New Brunswick to Manitoba.



Maine,--infrequent; New Hampshire,--occasional, extending as far north

as Boscawen in the Merrimac valley; Vermont,--common along Lake

Champlain and its tributaries (Flora of Vermont, 1900); occasional in

other sections; Massachusetts and Rhode Island,--sparingly scattered

throughout; Connecticut,--reported from East Hartford, Westville,

Canaan, and Lisbon (J. N. Bishop).



South to Florida and Alabama; west to Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and

Missouri.



=Habit.=--Medium-sized to large tree, 30-70 feet high, with trunk 1-3

feet in diameter; erect, branches spreading, broad-headed; in general

appearance resembling the white ash.



=Bark.=--Trunk dark gray or brown, smooth in young trees, furrowed in

old, furrows rather shallower than in the white ash; branches grayish;

young shoots greenish-gray with a rusty-velvety or scurfy pubescence

lasting often into the second year.



=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds rounded, dark reddish-brown, more or

less downy, smaller than those of the white ash, partially covered by

the swollen petiole. Leaves pinnately compound, opposite, 9-15 inches

long; petiole short, downy, enlarged at base; leaflets 7-9, opposite,

3-5 inches long, about one half as wide, light green and smooth above,

paler and more or less downy beneath; outline extremely variable, ovate,

narrow-oblong, elliptical or sometimes obovate, entire or slightly

toothed; apex acute to acuminate; base acute or rounded; leaflet stalks

short, grooved, downy; stipules and stipels none.



=Inflorescence.=--May. Similar to that of the white ash.



=Fruit.=--Ripening in early fall, and hanging in clusters into the

winter; samara or key about 1-1/2 inches long; body of the fruit

narrowly cylindrical, the edges gradually widening from about the center

into linear or spatulate wings, obtuse or rounded at the ends, sometimes

mucronate.



=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows readily in

any good soil, but prefers a wet or moist, rich loam; almost as rapid

growing when young as the white ash, and is not seriously affected by

insects or fungous diseases; worthy of a place in landscape plantations

and on streets, but not often found in nurseries; propagated from seed.






1. Winter buds.

2. Branch with sterile flowers.

3. Sterile flowers.

4. Branch with fertile flowers.

5. Fertile flower.

6. Fruiting branch.

7. Mature leaf.





=Fraxinus Pennsylvanica, var. lanceolata, Sarg.=



Fraxinus viridis, Michx. f. Fraxinus lanceolata, Borkh.