EUROPEAN ASH-TREE. ' 387 



21. F. E. PARViFOLiA. Smcill-leaved European Ash ; Fraxinvs parvifoUa^ of Don, 

 Loudon, and others ; Frenc d pet'des feiiiUes, of the French ; Kle'uibldtlrige Esche, 

 of the Germans. This variety is a native of the Levant, having from five to 

 scv^en pairs of leaflets, which are sessile, ronndisli, ovate, and oblon<^. They are 

 attenuated, and quite entire at the base, but miicronate and shar})ly serrated at 

 the apex. The riowers are naked, and put forth in April and May. And the 

 branches are purplisii, and trigonal at the top. 



22. F. E. ARGENTEA. SUrcry-Iodced Europedii Ash ; Frnxiniis nrg-eiitrn. of Don, 

 Loudon, and others; Frenedu Corse, of the French. The leaves of this variety 

 are of a silver-gray, and nsually have three pairs of rather coriaceous, elliptic- 

 ovate, shortly-cuspidate, bluntly-toothed leaflets, on short petiolules. It is a 

 native of the island of Corsica, in the fissures of rocks. 



23. F. E. OXYCARPA. Sharp-fruited Eurojtean Ash; Fraxinus oxycarpa, of 

 Don, Loudon, and others; Frene a fimits pointu, of the French. The leaves of 

 this variety are of a dark glossy green, and are produced in tufts at the ends of 

 the branches. They have from two to three pairs of leadets, almost sessile, 

 which are lanceolate, acuminated, serrated, and glabrous. Tlie flowers are 

 naked. The samaras lanceolate, attenuated at both ends, and mucronate. The 

 branchlets are green, with white dots; and the bnds are brown. This tree is a 

 native of Caucasus. 



24. F. E. PALLIDA. Pale-barked European Ash; Fraxinus pallida, of Don, 

 London, and others. The leaves of this variety have three pairs of leaflets, 

 which are glabrous, almost sessile, ovate-lanceolate, and toothed. The branches 

 are yellow. 



Geography and Histo7ij. The Fraxinus excelsior is indigenous to most parts 

 of Europe, northern Africa, and Japan. It nowhere arrives at greater perfection 

 ,han in Britain, where it is found from the county of Ross to Cornwall. It 

 ilso abonaids in the forests of France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and of Russia. 

 The ash was known to the Greeks, whose name for it was melia, or bounielia ; 

 and to the Romans, who, it is said, named it Fraxinus, quia facile fi-angitur, to 

 express the fragile nature of the wood, as the boughs of it are easily broken; and 

 both the Greeks and Romans made their spears of its wood. By the Roman 

 agricultural writers it is recommended as peculiarly fit for making implements 

 of husbandry, to which purpose it is chiefly applied in modern times. In Britain, 

 it ranks amongst the most beautiful of their trees, although, in the ancient 

 history of that country, it was very little regarded; indeed, some idea of the 

 value set upon it may be formed, from the fact, that in the laws of the celebrated 

 Howel Dda, while a branch of mistletoe was valued at thirty shillings, the ash 

 was umuentioned, and therefore must be ranked with trees after the thorn, and 

 rated at fourpence. Druidical superstition, however, has vanished, and now, 

 while the mistletoe is but little valued except by the bird-catcher, for the manu- 

 facture of his lime, (he ash is styled by way of eminence, the "husbandman's 

 tree," on account of its celebrity for the formation of agricultural implements and 

 for purposes of domestic economy. 



Among numerous ashes of extraordinary size, recorded as growing in Britain, 

 may be mentioned those spoken of by Evelyn, " lately sold in Essex, in length 

 one hundred and thirty-two feet," and the celebrated tree which formerly stood 

 in the churchyard of Kilmalie, in Lochaber. The latter was considered the 

 largest and the most remarkable tree in the Highlands. Lochiel, and his numer- 

 ous kindred and clan held it in great veneration for geii(>rations, which is sup- 

 posed to have been the cau.se of its destruction; it being burnt to the ground by 

 the brutal soldiery, in 1710. In one direction, its diameter was seventeen feet 

 and three inches, and the cross diameter twenty-one feet; its circumferenc at 

 the ground was fifty-eight feet. 



