56 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



"Miller derives it from phrasso, to enclose, the Ash being frequently used for making 

 hedges ; Liniiieus derives it from ^-'Aj'aajiS, a separation, because the wood splits easily. 

 Others derive it from fnuigilur, because the young branches are easily broken ; or 

 which may have been applied ironically iu allusion to the extreme toughness of the 

 old wood. None of these derivations, however, appear very satisfactory. The 

 English name of Ash may be derived either from the .Saxon word aese, a pike ; or 

 from the colour of the trunk and branches, which resembles that of wood ashes." 



SPECIES I.-PRAXIN US EXCELSIOR. Lbm. 



Plates DCCCCII. DCCCCIII. 



Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MLXXII. Figs. 3, 4, /), G. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 1529. 



Buds dull-black. Leaves pinnate, with 4 to 7 pairs of sub- 

 sessile ovate-lanceolate or elliptical or lanceolate acute serrate 

 leaflets and a terminal one, glabrous on both sides. Elowers 

 polygamous, in dense lateral panicles near the summit of the 

 branches, without calyx or corolla. Eruiting-panicles lax, droop- 

 ing. Fruit elliptical-oblong, slightly attenuated towards the base, 

 truncate or slightly emarginate at the apex. 



In woods and hedges. Common, and generally distributed, 

 though it is probably planted in many of its stations ; perhaps 

 not indigenous in the Highlands and extreme North of Scotland. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Tree. Spring. 



A tree, SO to 00 feet high, but sometimes reaching even 100 feet, 

 with the bark smooth, greenish-grey when young, rugged and fis- 

 sured when old, when it is often marked with black scars. Branches 

 brittle, spreading, with very smooth dull-green bark. Buds large, 

 clothed with dim greenish-black scales. Leaves opposite, with the 

 pinnce rather distant, 1^ to 3 inches long, variable in number and 

 in breadth. Elowers reduced merely to stamens and pistils, some 

 flowers with stamens and pistils, others with stamens only, or 

 pistils only, in dense panicles produced from tlie axils of the scars 

 of last season's leaves near the end of the branches of the preceding 

 year. Stamens purplish-black. Fruiting-panicle very large. Samara 

 stalked, about 1\ inch long, the greater part of it consisting of a 

 flat tough sub-herbaceous wing, which is ribbed over the portion 

 where tiie seed lies, and with a midrib and several faint lateral ribs 

 down the empty portion. Seed about \ inch long. 



A very curious form, or rather monstrosity, is figured on Plate 

 DCCCClil. This is the E. heterophylla of Wildenow, the E. mono- 

 pliyllaof Desfontaincs. In it most of the leaves are destitute of any 

 but the terminal leaflet, although some leaves usually occur deeply 

 3-lobed, or even ternate ; these simple leaves arc 2 to 6 inches long, 



