EUROPEAN ASH-TREE. 386 
ones; while on some there are only male flowers, and frequently trees are to ! 
met with containing flowers in two of these states, and even in all of them. The 
seeds, which are included in what are commonly called keys, or botanically 
samarae, are generally ripe in October; and. like those of the aceraceae and the 
ailantus, from their wedge-like shape, they are liable to fix themselves in the 
crevices of rocks, ruins, walls, and even in the clefts of old trees, where they 
often vegetate and grow.* 
Varieties. These are very numerous; but we shall first give those which arc 
universally allowed to be varieties, and are described as such by Don and Lou- 
don ; and afterwards indicate those which are treated by botanists as species. 
1. F. e. pendula. Pendulous-branched European Ash ; Frene pleureur, Frene 
parasol, of the French ; Trailer Esche, of the Germans. This singular and beau- 
tiful variety was discovered about the middle of the last century, in a field 
belonging to the vicar of Gamlingay, near Wimpole, in Cambridgeshire. The 
tree was standing as late as 1835, but comparatively in ruins. There are many 
individuals growing in England, which have been propagated from it; some in 
Scotland, Ireland, France, and Germany, and a few in America. In a list of 
trees planted in the government gardens at Odessa, by M. Descemet, is an ash 
with pendent branches, found in a bed of seedlings, which may possibly be some- 
what different from the English variety. The weeping ash is commonly grafted 
standard high; and, as it is very hardy, and grows with great rapidity, it is a 
valuable tree for forming arbours, or for covering seats more especially in public 
gardens. 
2. F. e. kincairnijE. Kincairney Ash, with the spray alternately pendulous, 
and rigidly upright, and thus forms a tree of fantastic shape. The original speci- 
men grows on the estate of Mr. Mungo Murray, in Kincairney, in the parish of 
Caputh, near Dimkeld, Perthshire, in Scotland. 
3. F. e. aurea. Golden-barked European Ash; Frene dori, of the French. 
This variety has the bark of the trunk and branches yellow and dotted; and the 
leaflets sessile, lanceolate, unequally serrated, acuminated, cuneated at the base, 
and glabrous. It is particularly conspicuous in winter, not only from the yellow- 
colour of its bark, but from the curved, contorted character of its branches, which 
somewhat resemble the horns of an animal. 
4. F. e. aurea pendula. Pendulous-branched Golden-barked European Ash, 
which is of as vigorous growth as the F. e. pendula. 
5. F. e. crispa. Curled-lea jleted European Ash. The darkness of the green 
of the leaves of this variety is remarkable, which, with their crumpled appear- 
ance, combined with the rigid stunted character of the whole plant, renders it a 
striking object. 
6. F. e. jaspidea. Striped-barked European Ash ; Frene jaspe, of the French. 
The bark of the trunk and branches of this variety, is streaked with reddish- 
white. 
7. F. e. purpurascens. Purple-barked European Ash, with the hark purple. 
It was found in a bed of seedlings, by M. Descemet, who had plants of it under 
his care at Odessa. 
* On the piers of the entrance to Blenheim Park from Woodstock, in England, there were, in 1834, a 
sycamore established on one pier, and an ash on the other, each about live feet high. "On the ruins oi 
Sweetheart Abbey, in Dumfriesshire," Mr. Loudon observe, ' there is ;i hu-e tree o! the common syca 
more on the top of a wall, winch, in 1806, when we last saw it, had sent down a fibrous root .... Uie out. 
side of the wall, completely exposed to the air. tor the height of ten or twelve feet, nil il reached tfe. 
'round. This fibre soon afterwards acquired considerable thickness, and now constitutes, as W( 
informed, the main stem of the tree." Gilpin quotes an instance from Dr. Plot, ol an ash estabUs hi..-; 
itself on, and finally destroying a willow. A similar circumstance also took place with a weeping wiuow, 
in the botanic garden of Carlsruhe; and the same thing not unfrequently happens with the oak u 
trees. In the city of New York, where the ailantus is much cultivated for ornamenting the streets, i i 
not uncommon to see small plants of it rrom two to three feet hi mg on the r - ind gutters 
houses, wlw they have taken root from seeds. 
49 
