II AX 



■:s OK 



•II K XoKTlIKK'.N Si 



195 



It. and -Z-A fl. ill 

 ^olaled it develops 

 slender spre.iding 



This handsome tree rarely attains a {,'rcater 

 size than GO-70 ft. in lici 

 diameter of trunk. W hen 

 a broad rounded top, of 

 branches. 



It inhabits the hanks of streams, lake-sliores 

 and bottom-lands over the greater part of tlie 

 United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and, 

 in the western part of its range, it so closely 

 approximates the Red Ash in characters that 

 it is considered by some botanists to be a 

 variety of that species, though it is verj' dis- 

 tinct from it in regions east of the i\Iississi])pi 

 River. Comparatively uncommon east of the 

 Alleghany Mountains it is very common in the 

 Mississippi Valley. Being a very hardy tree, 

 of rapid growth and desirable habit, it is ex- 

 tensively planted as an ornamental shade tree 

 in many of the cities and towns of the central 

 states. 



The wood is heavy, a cubic foot when abso- 

 lutely dry weighing 44.35 lbs., hard and 

 strong, and adapted to the same uses as that 

 of the White Ash, no distinction being made 

 between them in commerce.-* 



Leaves 8-12 in. long with petiole and racliis 

 frlabroiis or nearly so and .">-n oblons-lanceolate to 

 ovate petiolulate leaflets, cuneate at base, acumi- 

 nate at apex, usually sharply serrate at ma- 

 turity, glab'rous or n(>arly so, bright green both 

 sides or slightly liglit(>r boni-ath : branchlets gray, 

 terete, glabrous with pale Icnticcls. Floirers 

 dioecious, without in'tals. Fruit samara, 1-2 in. 

 long, with tcrcti' body tapering from the base, 

 tipped with a spatiilate or lancoolate wing de- 

 current about half way down the body. 



1. Syn. Fraxinua viridis Michx. f. 

 Pennsylvanica var. lanceolata Sarg. 



2. A. W., XI, 262. 



Fraxinus 



