338 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



of three or four pairs of leaflets and an odd one, on a round 

 footstalk, which is channelled above and swollen at the base 

 and at the articulations of the leaflets. The leaflets are three 

 to six inches long and one to one and a half wide, on very 

 short, compressed, downy footstalks, generally ovate-lance- 

 shaped, acute or rounded at base, tapering to a long point, 

 entire or obscurely toothed above, entire below, the upper sur- 

 face smooth or somewhat hairy, the under surface paler and 

 somewhat downy. The buds are rounded, almost concealed by 

 the leaf-stalk, downy and of a dark rusty brown. In autumn, 

 the leaves become russet. The fruit remains after the leaves 

 have fallen, and, on the male trees, as is common on the other 

 ashes, are unsightly excrescences from the sterile blossoms. 



Sp. 3. The Black Ash. F. sambucifolia. Willdenow. 

 Figured in Michaux, Sylva, III, Plate 122. 



The black ash is the slenderest deciduous tree, of any consid- 

 erable magnitude, to be found in the forest, often attaining the 

 height of seventy or eighty feet with a diameter scarcely over a 

 foot. It is almost confined to swamps or the muddy banks of 

 rivers, where the ground is saturated with moisture through 

 the greater part of the year. In such situations, it often throws 

 up its arrowy shaft almost without a limb, until its top reaches 

 the sunshine, among the tall hemlocks, spruces, hacmatacks, 

 birches and maples. Yet, when planted on an open plain, 

 where the soil is rich and not too dry, it spreads abroad its 

 limbs and forms an ample, round head. It is easily distin- 

 guished from the other ashes by its sessile, serrate leaves, and 

 its dark blue or black buds, and not by the color of the bark, 

 in which there is not a striking difference. The trunk is of a 

 dark granite gray, the bark rough, with small, superficial, ver- 

 tical rugosities, which appearance continues in very old trees. 



The young shoots, which are very stout, are of a yellowish 

 ashy gray, dotted with lighter dots, and next year becoming 

 of a clear gray, somewhat darker on the older branches ; on 

 these, the dots have the appearance of large warts. The semi- 

 circular leaf-scars are large and conspicuous on the smaller 



