OF Ohio 



99 



WHITE ASH 



Fraxinus Americana, Linnaeus 



THE White Ash is the most beautiful and useful of our 

 native Ashes. It stands among the most important 

 forest trees. 



The leaves are opposite, about 10 inches long, compound, 

 with 5 to 9 leaflets. Leaflets are 3 to 5 inches long, evidently 

 stalked, smooth or obscurely 

 toothed on margin, smooth 

 and dark green above, silvery 

 white below. 



The flowers are of two 

 kinds. The pollen-bearing 

 occur in dense reddish-purple 

 clusters, the seed-producing 

 in rather open pinnacles. 



The fruit is a winged 

 seed, 1 to 2 inches long. The 

 wing is long, narrow, at- 

 tached to the end of seed. 

 The seeds are grouped in 

 loose drooping clusters. 



•. The grayish-brown, and 

 rather thick bark soon be- 

 comes rough, dividing into 

 diamond-shaped fissures. The 

 twigs arc smooth, grayish- 

 brown, flattened at nodes, 

 marked with scattered pale 



dots. The buds are opposite, egg-shaped, dark brown, 

 blunt-pointed. Terminal buds are larger than the laterals. 

 ' The wood is very heavy, hard, tough, elastic, with light 

 sapwood and brownish heartwood. It is used widely, par- 

 ticularly for athletic equipment, agricultural implements, 

 tools, furniture, interior finishings. 



The White Ash is found from Nova Scotia to Minnesota, 

 and south to Florida and Texas. It is common in all parts 

 of Ohio, except the southeastern part. In the Western Re- 

 serve it is abundant. Fertile, moist soils, such as is found 

 in moist woods, meadowlands, borders of lakes and streams 

 are its favorite home. It becomes a large tree, often 70 to 

 80 feet high and 3 feet in diameter, grows rapidly, is easily 

 propagated. 



Closely related to the White Ash is the Biltmore Ash, 

 Fraxinus biltmoreana, Beadle. The twigs and axils of leaves 

 of the latter are velvety pubescent, at least when young. It 

 is also reported that the bark furrows earlier and deeper than 

 in the White Ash. 



WHITE ASH 

 One-fourth natural size. 



