‘ 
N. ORD.—OLEACE&. 437 
Tribe.—FRAXINEA. 
GENUS.—FRAXINUS,* TOURN. 
SEX. SYST.—DICECIA DIANDRIA. 
FRAXINUS. 
WHITE ASH. 
SYN.—FRAXINUS AMERICANA, LINN.; F. ACUMINATA AND JUGLANDI- 
FOLIA, LAM.; F. EPIPTEHERA, MICHX.; F. DISCOLOR, MUHL.; F. CANA- 
DENSIS, GAERTN.; F. ALBA, MARSH. 
COM. NAMES.—AMERICAN WHITE ASH; (FR.) LE FRENE BLANC; (GER.) 
WBHISSE ESCHE. 
A TINCTURE OF THE FRESH BARK OF FRAXINUS AMERICANA, LINN. 
Description.—This beautiful timber tree usually attains a growth of from 40 
to 60 feet or more; /vwnzk generally naked for about half the whole growth; dark 
gray, furrowed, and transversely fissured with great regularity; dvanchlets gray 
and glabrous; duds rust-colored. Leaves opposite, odd-pinnately compound, and 
over a foot in length; /eafle¢s 7 to g, short-stalked, varying from ovate to oblong- 
lanceolate ; all acuminate, entire or sparsely denticulate, pale or whitish, and often 
pubescent beneath, especially upon the mid-rib; Aedeoles glabrous. /nflorescence 
densely paniculate, especia'ly in the male—all developed from special buds, from 
the upper axils of the previous year’s growth; Flowers dicecious, apetalous; Male 
flowers : Calyx minute, campanulate, with 4 sharp teeth, or sometimes obsolete or 
wanting; séamens 2 to 4; filaments shorter than the large anthers; anthers linear- 
oblong, mucronate. Female flowers: Calyx small, persistent; stamens even, abor- 
tive ones rarely present; s¢y/e erect; stigma 2-lobed, Zobes revolute; ovary 2-celled, 
ovules a pair from the summit of each cell, one usually abortive. /7ut a dry 
samara about an inch and a half long; dody oblong, cylindraceous, terete, barely 
acute at the base, merely 1-nerved, not margined, about one-half as long as the 
lanceolate or oblanceolate, slightly emarginate, apical wing. Seed oblong, filling 
the cell; cotyledons elliptical ; radicle slender. 
History and Habitat,—The White Ash abounds in rich or moist woods from 
Canada southward to Florida, and westward to Louisiana, where it flowers on the. 
appearance of the leaves. It was introduced into English pare in 1723, but 
does not flourish there as here in its native climate. : 
The wood is very tough, fine-grained and elastic, and, were it not for its — 
weight, would make fine cabinet material. It weighs 35 lbs., 10 oz. per cubic foot, 
and has a sp. gr. of .570. Ash furnishes material for the most strained parts of 
wagons, as well as for all the heavier agricultural implements. | 
* pitts, phraxis, separation; as the wood splits with facility. ey 
