EUROPEAN ASH-TREE. 385 



ones; while on some there are only male flowers, and frequently trees are to b" 

 met with containing flowers in two of these states, and even in ail of them. The 

 seeds, which are included in what are commonly called keys, or botanically 

 samarsB, are generally ripe in October; and. like those of the aceraceae and the 

 ailanlLis, from their wedge-like shape, they arc liable to fix themselves in the 

 crevices of rocks, ruins, walls, and even in the clefts of old trees, where they 

 often vegetate and grow.* 



Varieties. These are very numerous; but we shall first give those which are 

 universally allowed to be varieties, and are described as such by Don and Lou- 

 don ; and afterwards indicate those which are treated by botanists as species. 



1. F. E. PENDULA. Poululoiis-hrancked Kuroijemi Ash ; Frene pleiireiir, Frene 

 parasol, of the French ; Trauer Fsche, of the (iermans. Tliis singular and beau- 

 tiful variety was discovered about the middle of the last century, in a field 

 belonging to the vicar of Gamlingay, near Wimpole, in Cambridgeshire. The 

 tree was standing as late as 183.5, but comparatively in ruins. There are many 

 individuals growing in England, which have been propagated from it ; some in 

 Scotland, Ireland, France, and Germany, and a few in America. In a list of 

 trees planted in the government gardens at Odessa, by M. Uescemet, is an ash 

 with pendent branches, found in a bed of seedlings, which may possibly be some- 

 what dirterent from the English variety. The weeping ash is commonly grafted 

 standard high; and, as it is very hardy, and grows with great rapidity, it is a 

 valuable tree for forming arbours, or for covering seats more especially in public 

 gardens. 



2. F. E. KiNCAiRNLE. Kincaimey Ash, with the spray alternately pendulous, 

 and rigidly upright, and thus forms a tree of fantastic shape. The original speci- 

 men grows on the estate of Mr. Mungo Murray, in Kincaimey, in the parish of 

 Caputh, near Dunkeld, Perthshire, in Scotland. 



3. F. E. AUREA. Golden-barked Furopeati Ash; Frene dori, of the French. 

 This variety has the bark of the trunk and branches yellow and dotted; and the 

 leaflets sessile, lanceolate, unequally serrated, acuminated, cuneated at the base, 

 and glabrous. It is particularly conspicuous in winter, not only from the yellow 

 colour of its bark, but from the curved, contorted character of its branches, which 

 somewhat resemble the horns of an animal. 



4. F. E. AUREA PENDULA. Pcndulovs-hranched Golden-harked European Ash. 

 which is of as vigorous growth as the F. e. pendula. 



5. F. E. CRisPA. Curled-leajleted European Ash. The darkness of the green 

 of the leaves of this variety is remarkable, which, with their crumpled appear- 

 ance, combined with the rigid stunted character of the whole plant, renders it a 

 striking object. 



6. F. E. JASPiDEA. /Striped-barked European Ash ; Frene ja.^pi, of the Fretjch. 

 The bark of tlie trunk and branches of this variety, is streaked with reddish- 

 white. 



7. F. E. PL'RPURASCENs. Puvple-barked European Ash, witli the bark purple. 

 It was found in a bed of seedlings, by M. Descemet, who had j)lants of it under 

 his care at Odessa. 



* On the piers of the entrance to Blenheim Park from Woodstock, in England, there were, in 1834, a 

 sycamore established on one pier, and an ash on the other, each about five leet high. "On llic ruins ol 

 Sweetheart Abbey, in Dumfriesshire, " Mr. Loudon observes, " there is a large tree of the common syca- 

 more on the top of a wall, which, in iSOt), when we last saw it, had sent down a fibrous root on the out- 

 side of the wall, completely exposed to the air, for the height of ten or twelve feet, till it reached tho 

 ground. This fibre soon afterwards acquired considerable thickness, and now constitutes, as we ait 

 informed, the main stem of the tree." Gilpin quotes an instance from Dr. Plot, of an ash establishing 

 itself on, and finally destroying a willow. A similar circumstance also took place with a weeping willow, 

 in the botanic garden of Carlsruhe ; and the same thing not unfrequenlly hapi>f'ns with the oak and other 

 trees. In the city of New York, where the ailanius is mueli ciiliivaled for onnmeniiiiir the streets, it is 

 not uncommon to see small plants of it from two to three feet high, growing on the roofs and gutlers of 

 houses, whiT" ihev Imve tnlccn inoi ficiin seeds. 



