J96 



FIIAXINUS AMKRICANA. 



11 



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4. F. A. SAMBrciFOi.iA. Elili r-lcuri'd Anicricdii Ash ; Fm.niius sninhurifoha^ 

 of Micliaiix, Don. Loudon. ;iii(l others: Fn'iit'd fcuHlcs lic sitrcitii, Frc/ic tioir, 

 of tlie Fivnc-h : li/urk As/i, llroirn Ash, Wnlcr Ash, of the Anglo-Americans. 

 This tree, in ravoural)Ie sitimlions, froiincntly 

 attains a hfiyht of seventy or eighty feet, with 

 a trunk from two feet to two feel and a lialf in 

 diameter. It is easily distinguished from the 

 white ash by its bark, which is more inclined to 

 a yellowish cast, is smoother, with the furrows, 

 in old trees, parallel and perpendicular, often 

 infested with bimchcs of moss, and may, in 

 some degree, be peeled off in small thin plates, 

 or lainiiKP. It may also be distinguished by its 

 buds, which arc of a deep-blue, or nearly black, 

 and by the colour of its heart-wood, which is of 

 a fine bistre-brown. The young shoots are of a 

 bright-green, beset with black dots, which di.s- 

 appear as tlie season advances. The leaves at 

 their unfolding are accompanied by stipulae 

 which fall after two or three weeks, are from 

 twelve to fifteen inches long, when fully devel- 

 oped, and are compo.sed of three or four pairs of leaflets, with an odd one. 

 The leaflets are sessile, oval-acuminate, denticulated, of a deep-green colour, 

 smooth on the upper surface, and coated with a reddish down upon the main 

 ribs, beneath. When bruised, they emit an odour like that of the leaves of the 

 elder. This variety is among the last trees which put forth in spring, and the 

 earliest that lose their leaves in autumn. The very first hard frost that comes, 

 not only causes its leaves to fade and become yellow, as those of the other trees, 

 but blackening and shrivelling them np, so that they fall in showers, with the 

 least breath of wind. It is often completely denuded, in the northern parts of 

 the United States by the 20th of September. The flowers, which put forth in 

 May or June, are succeeded by flat samar8e,or keys, disposed in bunches four or 

 five inches long, that are nearly as broad at the base as at the summit. This 

 variety is found chiefly in the middle and northern parts of the United States, 

 and also abounds in the British colonies of North America, particularly in the 

 forests of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where it is generally found in a 

 moist soil, or one that is exposed to inundations, and is usually accompanied by 

 the red maple, (Acer rubrum,) yellow birch, (Betula excelsa,) black spruce, 

 (Abies nigra,) and the American arbor vitae (Thuja occidentalis.) In the mid- 

 dle states of the union, this tree associates with the Fraxinus a. pubescens, and 

 the Acer rubrum. Its wood is tougher and more elastic than that of the white 

 ash, but less durable when exposed to the vicissitudes of moisture and dryness, 

 for which reason it is less extensively used. Like the European ash, the value 

 of its timber is increased by the rapidity of its growth ; and, as in the case of that 

 species, the wood of young trees is more esteemed than that of old ones. The 

 sap-wood of this variety is very white, tough, and compact, when compared 

 with its heart-wood, which, as before observed, is of a fine bistre-brown, and from 

 this circumstance the tree derives its name. In the parts of the country where 

 this variety abounds it is split into rails for rural fences, which rank next to the 

 cedar for durability, but are far more heavy and difficult to move. It has also 

 been employed with advantage in the construction of dams, wharves, canals, and 

 other works, particularly in the parts above the ordinary flow of the waters and 

 streams, where strength and durability are required. It is not employed by 

 coach-makers nor mill-wrights, nor is it overwrought into oars, pulleys, or hand- 



