373 
OLEACEiE. (OLIVE FAMILY.) 
3. FRAXINUS, Toum. Ash. 
Flowers polygamous or dioecious. Calyx small and 4-cleft, or 
obsolete. Petals 4, slightly cohering in pairs at the base, or only 
2, oblong or linear, or commonly altogether wanting in the North 
American species. Stamens 2, sometimes 3 (rarely 4). Style 
single : stigma 2-cleft. Fruit a 1-2-celled samara, or key, flat¬ 
tened, winged at the apex, 1 -2-seeded. Cotyledons elliptical : 
radicle slender. — Light timber-trees, with petioled pinnate leaves 
of 3-15 either toothed or entire leaflets; the small flowers in 
crowded panicles or racemes from the axils of last year’s leaves. 
(The classical Latin name, thought to be derived from Qpdfrs, a 
separation , from the facility with which the wood splits.) 
* Calyx present: corolla wanting. 
1. F. Americana, L. (White Ash.) Leaflets 7 - 9, stalk¬ 
ed, oblong-ovate, pointed, nearly entire,glaucous underneath; at length 
smooth except on the veins beneath ; samara spatulate-linear, obtuse , 
with a long narrowed base. (F. acumin&ta, Lam.)—Rich woods, 
common. April, May. A large forest-tree, with gray furrowed and 
cracked bark, and smooth greenish-gray branchlets: buds rust-colored. 
2. F. pubescens, Walt. (RedAsh.) Leaflets 7-9, velvety- 
downy underneath, as well as the petioles and usually the young 
branchlets, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, pointed, somewhat sei'rate, 
stalked; samara narrowly laneeolate-spatulate, obtuse usually with an 
abrupt point, tapering at the base. (F. tomentosa, Michx.) — Woods, 
along streams. New England to Ohio and southward. May._A 
large tree, variable in foliage and pubescence; the wood less valuable 
than that of No. 1. 
3. F. jnglandifolia, Lam. (Green or Yellow Ash.) Leaf¬ 
lets i — 9, ovate, serrate, smooth, rather downy on the veins under¬ 
neath, stalked samara wedge-lanceolate, obtuse, scarcely tapering at 
the base. (F. viridis, Michx.) — Wet woods, Maine to Ohio and south¬ 
ward. May. — Wood brittle and less valuable than in No. 1: branch- 
lets greenish. 
4. F. quadrangulata, Michx. (Blue Ash.) Leaflets 5.- 
9, lanceolate-elliptical, serrate, pointed at both ends, almost sessile, 
downy underneath ; the smooth branchlets with 4 winged angles ; sa¬ 
mara spatulate-oblong, obtuse at both ends. — Wet woods, from Ohio 
westward and southward. May. — A large tree, yielding valuable 
timber. 
* * Calyx and corolla both wanting. 
5. F. sambucilolia, Lam. (Black Ash.) Leaflets 9-11, 
sessile by an obtuse base, elliptical-lanceolate, pointed, more or less 
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