OLEACEAE 



The Ashes 

 Characteristics of the Genus Fraxinus L. 



HABIT. Deciduous trees, or rarely shrubs; ornamental with 

 handsome foliage; several species are important timber trees, 



LEAVES. Opposite; odd-pinnately compound (rarely re- 

 duced to a single leaflet); without stipules; petiolate; decidu- 

 ous; leaflets serrate or entire, sessile or petiolulate. 



FLOWERS. Regular; perfect; dioecious, or polygamous; 

 small, but quite conspicuous in slender-branched panicles; 

 appearing before or with the leaves; calyx 4-lobed or wanting; 

 corolla usually 4-lobed or wanting; stamens usually 2 (rarely 

 3 or 4) ; single 2-celled ovary (rarely 3-celled) ; ovules suspended 

 in pairs from inner angle of the cell. 



FRUIT. Samara; 1-, rarely 2- or 3-seeded; with an elongated 

 terminal wing. Seed: oblong, compressed, filling cavity in the 

 fruit, chestnut-brown, albuminous. 



TWIGS. Slender to stout; glabrous or pubescent; pith thick, 

 rounded, homogeneous; leaf scars suborbicular to semi-circu- 

 lar, sometimes notched on the upper edge; bundle scars nu- 

 merous. Winter buds: terminal larger than lateral, both with 

 1-3 pairs of scales, the inner accrescent. 



BARK. Thick and furrowed or rarely thin and scaly. 



WOOD. Ring-porous; late wood with rather few pores not 

 in distinct radial lines and with tangential bands of parencyhma; 

 tough; straight-grained; not structural timber, but important 

 for specialty purposes; sapwood not durable. 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Rather intolerant trees; rapid 

 growing; fibrous root system; reproducing well naturally and 

 artificially; comparatively free from destructive attacks by in- 

 sects and fungi. 



GENERAL. This genus contains about 65 species of trees 

 scattered through the Northern Hemisphere and extending in- 

 to the tropical forests of Java and Cuba. In North America 

 there are 18 recognized native species. 



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