OLEACEAE 79 



OLEACEAE. Ash Family 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite or sometimes alternate, deciduous in ours. 

 Flowers small, commonly in compact panicles or clusters, mostly unisexual, some- 

 times perfect. Corolla sympetalous, choripetalous or none. Stamens few (1 to 4). 

 Ovary superior, 2-celled; style 1. Fruit a samara, capsule or drupe. — This family 

 includes Forsythia, Lilac, Olive and Privet of the gardens. — Genera 20, species 

 about 380, all continents. 



Bibliog. — Gray, A., Revision of the genus Forestiera (Proc. Am. Acad. 4:363-6, — 1860). 

 Wenzig, Th., Die Gatt. Fraxinus (Engler, Bot. Jahrb. 4:165-188, t. 2, 3,-1883). Sterrett, W. D., 

 The ashes: their characteristics and management (U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 299:1-88, pis. 1-16,— 

 1915). Lingelsheim, A., Oleaceae-Oleoideae (Engler, Pflzr. 42*3-1-2. i_i25j ggg. 1-22,-1920). 

 Steyermark, J. A., A revision of the genus Menodora (Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 19:87-176, ligs. 1-6 

 and pis. 4-11,-1932). 



Leaves compound, opposite; fruit a samara 1. Fraxinus. 



Leaves simple ; fruit not a samara. 



Fruit a drupe; leaves opposite 2. Forestiera, 



Fruit a circumscissile capsule ; leaves mostly alternate, entire 3. Menodora. 



1. FRAXINUS L. Ash 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves deciduous, pinnately compound. Flowers dioecious, 

 perfect or polygamous, borne in small crowded panicles, appearing just before the 

 leaves and from separate buds. Calyx small, truncate, with toothed border. Co- 

 rolla with 2 equal petals or none. Stamens 2 (rarely 1 or 3) . Ovules 2 in each cell. 

 Fruit a 1-seeded samara, with terminal wing.— In F. anomala the leaves are usually 

 simple. — Species about 39, North America, Asia and Europe. (The Latin name 

 of the ash. ) 

 Trees; corolla none; style conspicuously 2-lobed. 



Flowers dioecious ; leaves pinnate ; leaflets 2 inches long or more ; branchlets terete. 



Leaflets oblong to oval, the lateral commonly sessile ; wing narrowed or decurrent down- 

 ward on each side of the body of the fruit, the body therefore clavate ; Sierra 



Nevada and Coast Ranges mainly 1. F. oregona. 



Leaflets lanceolate to oval, the lateral on petiolules % to 6 lines long; vring strictly 

 terminal, not decurrent on the body of the fruit, the body nearly cylindric ; S. 



Cal. mts 2. F. velutina. 



Flowers polygamous ; leaves simple, rarely with 2 or 3 leaflets ; branchlets of the season 4- 



sided; e. Mohave Desert 3. F. anomala. 



Shrub ; corolla present ; flowers perfect ; style obscurely lobed ; leaflets mostly stalked, less than 

 2 inches long; branchlets of the season 4-3ided; cismontane 4. F. dipetala. 



1. F. oregona Nutt. Oregon Ash. Tree 30 to 80 feet high; shoots of the sea- 

 son, leaflets beneath and rachises pubescent or puberulent, more or less glabrate; 

 leaves 6 to 12 inches long; leaflets 5 to 7 (or 9), oblong to oval, or often broadest 

 toward the apex and abruptly short-pointed, usually sessile except the terminal 

 one, entire or toothed above the middle, 2 to 51/2 inches long; stamens 2 (sometimes 

 1 or 3) ; samaras oblong-lanceolate, 1% to 1% inches long, the wing 21/2 to 4 lines 

 wide, narrowly decurrent on the body, the body therefore clavate, 6 to 7 lines long. 



Along streams in caiions or valleys, or in lake "bottoms," 10 to 4000 feet : Coast 

 Ranges from Santa Clara Co. to Siskiyou Co.; delta region of the Great Valley; 

 Sierra Nevada from Tulare Co. to Shasta and Modoc Cos. North to British Colum- 

 bia. Apr. -June, fr. July-Oet. 



Field note. — While Fraxinus oregona is closely restricted to very definite habitats along 

 streams and in moist spots, it is, nevertheless, rather frequent in the North Coast Range country. 

 On the flats of the lake "bottom" in Little Lake Valley, Mendocino Co., it formed at one time 

 a considerable forest. In other places it is abundant enough to be of economic importance, since 

 the heavy and hard timber has been used for wagon frames, furniture and barrels. 



As to the distribution of Fraxinus oregona it is not known to us in the Coast Ranges south 

 of Santa Clara County but it will probably be found in the Santa Lucia Mountains, or with less 

 liielihood in the mountains of Santa Barbara County. It has long been attributed to cismontane 



