DENDROLOGY. 



159 



Red Ash. Fraxinus tomentosa. 



Of all the ashes this 

 species is the most multiplied 

 in Pennsylvania, Maryland 

 and Virginia. Like the 

 white ash it prefers swamps 

 and places frequently inun- 

 dated or liable to be covered 

 with water by copious rains. 

 The red ash is a beautiful 

 tree, rising perpendicularly 

 to the height of 60 feet with 

 a diameter of 1 5 or 1 8 inches. 

 It is inferior to the white ash 

 not only in size but in the 

 rapidity of its growth ; the 

 length of the annual shoots 

 and the distance of the buds 

 are but half as great as in the white ash. The bark upon the 

 trunk is of a deep brown color. The leaves are from twelve to 

 fifteen inches long and are composed of three or four pair of very 

 acuminate, leaflets, terminated with an odd one. Their .lower 

 surface, as well as the shoots of the same season to which they 

 are attached, is covered with thick down : on insulated trees this 

 down is red at the approach of autumn, whence, probably, is 

 derived the name of the tree. It puts forth greenish flowers in 

 May, which are followed by seeds, similar in form and arrange- 

 ment, though shorter, to those of the white ash. 



The wood of this species is of a brighter red than that of the 

 white ash, and possesses all the properties for which the other is 

 esteemed, and in the Middle and Northern States they are 

 indifferently applied to the same diversified uses ; that of the red 

 ash, however, is somewhat harder and consequently less elastic. 



Fisr. 1. 



PLATE XXXIL 

 A leaflet. Fig. 2. The seed. 



