THE BLUE ASH 



THE Blue Ash is perhaps the easiest to identify of all the Ashes. At any season 

 it may be known by the four-angled character of the twigs, there being four 

 distinct ridges running lengthwise along the bark. It also has other specific 

 characteristics. In autumn and winter it shows the short, broad keys which are slightly 

 suggestive of those of the Black Ash ; in spring it shows flowers which have both stamens 

 and pistils in the same blossoms, instead of in separate blossoms on separate trees as in 

 the other Ashes; in summer its inner bark reveals a blue coloring when mixed'with water. 

 The use of this coloring as a dye led to the name Blue Ash. 



This species seems to be especially a native of the Mississippi Valley, occurring 

 from Southern Michigan to Iowa on the north, and from Tennessee to Arkansas on the 

 south. It commonly grows on uplands, though occasionally found on lowlands, and gen- 

 erally occurs as a tall tree, perhaps seventy feet high, though occasionally decidedly higher. 

 It is an excellent tree for street and park planting. 



In his "Manual of the Trees of North America" Professor Sargent enumerates 

 sixteen species of native Ash trees. The ten additional to the six important sorts treated 

 of herewith are comparatively unimportant trees, with limited geographical ranges. 

 Two species, which have the common name of Water Ash, are found in swamps in the 

 Southern States and are closely akin to our Black Ash. One, called the Mountain Ash, 

 is found in Texas. Another, called the Pumpkin Ash, is a splendid tree growing in swamps 

 in Missouri, Arkansas, and Florida, and having a buttressed base probably because its 

 roots are so constantly under water. The paddle-like keys are unusually large, commonly 

 reaching a length of three inches. The Biltmore Ash is an interesting Southern form, 

 seldom attaining a large size. 



A number of sorts of Ash trees from Europe are found in cultivation. Most of these 

 are the typical form or a variety of the European Ash {Fraxinus excelsior). Like so many 

 trees that have been long in cultivation it has many horticultural varieties, ten of which 

 are enumerated by Alfred Rehder in the "Cyclopedia of Horticulture." One of these 

 has the leaflets margined with white ; another blotched with white ; another has yellow 

 branches ; another has very slender leaflets ; another has the leaflets curled and twisted ; 

 still another has simple rather than compound leaflets, while some varieties have pendent 

 branches. These special varieties are reproduced by budding just as varieties of fruit trees 

 are reproduced. 



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