PUMPKIN ASH (Fraxinus profunda, Bush) is one of the 

 largest and most beautiful of our ash trees, and leads all the 

 others in the size of its leaves and keys. The velvety pubes- 

 cence of its young shoots and leaf linings might confuse it 

 with the red ash, but that its branchlets are stout. The leaves 

 are 10 to 18 inches long, with broadly lanceolate leaflets, 

 pointed and wavy-margined, leathery, with downy linings 

 and leaf stalks. The keys are 2^ to 3 inches long, with wings 

 that broaden and round at the tips. They are borne in large, 

 pendulous and very profuse clusters. 



This tree grows in deep river swamps in southeastern Mis- 

 souri and eastern Arkansas, and also in western Florida along 

 the Appalachicola River. It will probably be found in swamps 

 intermediate between these two regions. It has only been 

 discovered and named within the past eight years. Mr. Bush 

 found it first in 1893, and four years later gave it a name, 

 profunda, which probably refers to the almost bottomless 

 bayous in which it often grows. The common name, pumpkin 

 ash, refers to the bulging base of the tree 



