54 
come out late, and fall early. "The fertile trees also generally 
exhaust themselves so much in bearing keys or fruit, that their 
foliage is scanty, and their appearance unsightly. The trees, 
however, which bear male flowers only, have a full and verdant 
foliage, and make a handsome figure, though late in the season. 
It is well calculated for standards and clumps, in large parks and 
plantations, and for groves and woods. It will grow in very 
barren soils, and in the bleakest and most exposed situations. 
It is so hardy as to endure the sea winds, and may therefore be 
planted on the coast, where few trees will prosper. If planted 
by ditch sides, or in low, boggy meadows, the roots act as under- 
drains, and render the ground about them firm and hard; the 
timber, however, is in this case of little value. It was natural 
that our remote ancestors, when the island was overrun with 
wood, should value trees rather for their fruit than their timber ; 
it is no wonder, then, that by the laws of Howel Dda, the price of 
an oak or a beech should be 120 pence, while the ash, because 
it furnished*no food for swine, was valued only at fourpence. 
The Edda or Woden, however, holds the ash in the highest 
veneration; and man is described as being formed from it. 
Hesiod, in like manner, deduces his brazen race of men from the 
ash; and in his Theogony has nymphs of the name of Mediat. 
It is probably owing to the remains of Gothic veneration for this 
tree, that the country people, in the south-east part of the king- 
dom, split young ashes, and pass their distempered children 
through the chasm, in hopes of a cure. They have also a 
superstitious custom of boring a hole in an ash, and fastening in 
a shrew mouse; a few strokes with a branch of this tree is 
then accounted a sovereign remedy against cramps and lameness 
in cattle, which are ignorantly supposed to proceed from this 
harmless animal. In many partsof the highlands of Scotland, at 
the birth of a child, the nurse or midwife puts one end of a green 
stick of this tree into the fire, and, while it is burning, receives 
into a spoon the sap or juice, which oozes out at the other end, 
and administers this as the first spoonful of liquor to the new 
born babe. 
The facility with which the ash is propagated, and adapts 
itself to any soil or situation, even the worst; the quickness of its 
growth ; and the general demand for the timber, in every part of 
the country, for a variety of rural and economical purposes; 
recommend this tree very much to the planter. 
The following are the most remarkable varieties of the Common Ash. 
Var. 3, péndula; branches pendulous. h. H. Ait. hort. 
kew. ed. 2. vol. 5. p. 475. The Weeping Ash. 
Var. y, aárea ; (Willd. enum. p. 1059.) branches yellow, 
dotted; leaflets sessile, lanceolate, unequally serrulated, acu- 
minated, cuneated at the base, glabrous. h. H. F. aürea, 
Pers. ench. 2. p. 604. The yellow-barked Ash. 
Var. à, crispa; leaflets dark green, curled. kh. H. F. 
crispa, Bose. F. atrovirens, Desf. arb. 1. p. 104. 
Var. e, jaspidea (Willd.) bark and wood marked with veins. 
Var. £, argéntea (Desf. arb.) leaves variegated with white. 
The silver-striped-leaved Ash. 
Var. n, lütea; leaves edged with yellow. The golden-striped- 
leaved Ash. 
Var. 3, erósa (Pers. ench. 1. p. 604.) leaflets erosely toothed. 
Var. «, horizontàlis (Desf. Pers. l. c.) branches horizontal. 
'The horizontal-branched Ash. 
Var. x, verrucosa (Desf. Pers. l. c.) branches warted. The 
warted-barked Ash. 
Far. A, striata. The striped-barked Ash. 
Var. p, fungósa. The spongy-barked Ash. 
Var. v, verticillata. The whorled-leaved Ash. 
Taller or Common Ash. Fl. March, April. 
50 to 80 feet. 
Britain. Tree 
OLEINA. XIV. Fraxinus. 
2 F. na'na (Willd. enum. 1068) leaflets sessile, usually 5 
pairs, ovate-oblong, acute, unequally serrulated, roundly cuneated 
at the base. h.H. Native of Europe. F. excélsior, var. 
nana, Hortul. Branches grey. Buds brownish, black. Leaflets 
5-6 pair, 14 inch long, and hardly 4 inch broad, glabrous. 
Dwarf Ash. Fl. April, May. Clt.? Shrub 6 to 10 feet. 
3 F. roremonurotta (Poir. in Duh. ed. nov. 4. p. 66. dict. 
suppl. 2. p. 671.) leaflets usually 4-5 pairs, quite glabrous, 
sharply-toothed, ovate, nearly sessile; petioles a little winged. 
h. H. Native country unknown. F. nàna, Desf. hort. par. et 
arb. 1. p. 104. F. nana (appendiculata), Pers, ench. 2. p. 605. 
F. appendiculàta, Lodd. cat. A humble-branched Shrub. 
Branches of a livid lead colour. Leaflets approximate, 6-7 lines 
long, and 3 lines broad, acute. Common petioles winged. 
Greek-Valerian-leaved Ash. Fl. April, May. Clt.? Sh. 
4 F. HETEROPHY'LLA (Vahl. enum. 1. p. 53.) leaves simple 
or ternate, dentately serrated ; samara oblong-lanceolate, an 
inch long, obtuse and emarginate at the apex. b. Native 
of Europe. In England, in woods, but rare. F. simplicifólia, 
Willd. spec. 4. p. 1098. berl. baumz. p. 121. t. 3. f. 3. Smith, 
engl. bot. t. 2476. F. monophylla, Desf. arb. 1. p. 102. F. 
excélsior, var. simplicifolia, Hort. F. excélsior, 3, diversifolia, 
Ait. F. excélsior, e, Lam. dict. 2. p. 554. F. excélsior, p, 
heterophylla, D. C. F. integrifólia and diversifolia, Hort. Leaves 
usually simple, but sometimes ternate and quinate, 3-4 inches 
long, ovate, sub-cordate, or acuminate at the base and apex. 
Branches dotted. Buds black. Perhaps only a variety of F. 
excélsior. 
Various-leaved Ash Tree. 
30 to 40 feet. 
5 F. PAnvIFOLIA (Willd. spec. 4. p. 1101.) leaflets 5-7 pairs, 
sessile, roundish-ovate and oblong, attenuated at the base, quite 
entire at the base, but sharply serrated at the apex, mucronate ; 
flowers naked. k. Native of the Levant. Willd. berl. 
baumz. p. 155. t. 2. f. 2. Tenor. syll, p. 9. no. 5. Branches 
purplish, trigonal at the top. It differs from F. rotundifolia 
in the leaflets being more copious, in the bases not bemg unequal, 
and the buds being brown. The juice of this tree is the manna 
of Sicily. It is called Frassino mistino, and Frassino lentisco, 
in Sicily. 
Small-leaved Ash-tree. 
20 to 30 feet. 
6 F. ramanisciror1a (Vahl. enum. 1. p. 52.) leaflets petio- 
late, oblong and lanceolate, sharply serrated: serratures muero- 
nate. h. H. Native about Aleppo. Fr. lentiscifólia, Desf. 
cat. hort. par. p. 52. Willd. spec. 4. p. 1101. F. parvifolia, 
Lam. dict. 2. p. 540, F. Aleppénsis, Plukn. phyt. 182. f. 4. 
Branches dark purple. Buds brown. Leaflets 4-5 pairs, ex 
Vahl. 6-7 pairs, ex Willd. 4 inch long, terminal one smaller than 
the lateral ones. Flowers naked. Samara narrow, gradually 
widening to the apex, and retuse. 
Tamarisk-leaved Ash-tree. Fl. May, June. Clit. 1710. Tr. 
7 F. AncE'NTEA ; leaves with usually 3 pairs of rather coria- 
ceous, elliptic-ovate, shortly cuspidate, bluntly-toothed leaflets, 
on short petiolules. 5. H. Native of Corsica, in the fissures 
of rocks. Fraxinus argéntea, Lois. fl. gall. 697. Leaves sil- 
very grey. Nearly allied to O'rnus Europæ'a. 
Silvery-leaved Ash. Fl. April, May. Clt. 1825. Tree. 
8 F. sampuciroria (Vahl. enum. 1. p. 51.) leaflets sessile, 
ovate-lanceolate, serrated, having the axils of the veins 
villous beneath. h. H. Native from Canada to Carolina. 
Willd. spec. 4. p. 1099. Muhl, nov. act. scrut. berol. 3. p. 393. 
Pursh. il. sept. amer. 1. p. 8. Michx. fig. arb. icon. F. nigra, 
Moench. F. críspa, Hort. Young branches green, beset with 
black dots. Buds brown. Leaflets 3 pairs, 3-4 inches long, 
acute at both ends. Flowers like those of the Common Ash. 
12 
Fl. April, May. England. Tree 
Fl. April, May. Clt.1822. Tree 
