184 Bulletin 194 



THE ASHES 



The olive family takes its name from the olive tree of Asia. The 

 only representatives among our native trees are the ashes ; but several 

 of the commonly planted ornamental shrubs, the lilacs and other syrin- 

 gas and the beautiful forsythia, belong to this family. 



The individual flowers of the ashes are small ; but coming as they 

 do before the leaves and appearing in crowded clusters, they are quite 

 conspicuous. The flowers are of two kinds, the pollen producing and 

 the seed bearing being on separate trees. The ashes, like the maples, 

 have prominently winged fruit, but those of the ash hang singly 

 whereas the maple "keys" are always in pairs. 



The ashes are among the most useful of the hardwood forest trees 

 of America, yielding to the oaks alone in value. Two species, the black 

 ash and the white ash, occur commonly throughout Vermont, the red 

 ash and the green ash are restricted or local in their distribution. The 

 latter two are very similar and intermediate forms connect them so 

 closely that some authorities rate the green ash as but a variety of the 

 red ash. In using the following key it is to be observed that the ash leaf 

 is compound, that is, each leaf is divided into from seven to eleven 

 smaller leaflets, as will be seen by examining any of the figures. 



