BOTANICAL NOTES ON BRITISH FOREST TREES. 343 



in July. A long membranous bract is fixed by half its 

 length to the peduncle. 



Fruits globoid, grey, hairy, nut-like. 



Wood reddish-white, with very small vessels equally 

 distributed, and sharp, fine, medullary rays. The cortex 

 shows large bast bundles in ^transverse section. 



Seeds small/ with oily endosperm, and straight em- 

 bryo. Cotyledons large, palmately lobed, and raised 

 above the soil by a long hypocotyl. The first leaves 

 resemble those of the Sycamore. 



28. ASH. 

 Fraxinus excelsior (L.). Oleacese. 



Large tree, with straight grey twigs, and deeply 

 fissured Oak-like bark. 



Buds in winter very characteristic ; conical, velvety- 

 black. The terminal one large, the lateral (occasionally 

 with accessory buds) smaller, and superposed on crescent- 

 shaped leaf-scars. 



Leaves compound, decussate, impari-pinnate ; leaflets 

 seven to eleven, sessile, ovate-lanceolate, serrate. 



Flowers in erect axillary panicles ; hermaphrodite, 

 but monochlamydeous. Anthers purple. Flowers in 

 spring before the leaves open. 



Fruit a one-seeded samara, with a long, thin, veined 

 wing. 



"Wood: the alburnum is very broad and yellowish- 

 white ; heart-wood Oak-like. Vessels of spring- wood 

 large, the smaller ones of the autumn-wood tailing off 

 in radial lines. Medullary rays hardly visible. 



