902 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Varieties 



A form is known with very small fruit, var. microcarpa, Gray. 1 In regard to 

 the leaf, two varieties have been described, 2 viz. : 



Var. acuminata, Wesmael. Leaflets dark green above, very white and almost 

 glabrous beneath, nearly entire in margin. This form is more common in the 

 southern states. 



Var. juglandifolia, Rehder. Leaflets usually broader than in the preceding 

 variety, more or less pubescent beneath, coarsely serrate at least above the middle. 

 This is the northern form of the species. 



These two varieties occur in cultivation in England, the leaves of both remaining 

 unchanged in colour until they fall in autumn. A form of var. acuminata occurs, 

 in which the leaflets are narrow at the base, and turn reddish brown before they fall. 



There is also said to- exist a horticultural variety, var. albo-marginata, in which 

 the leaflets are edged with white. 



Identification 



As Fraxinus americana may be a valuable tree for economic planting in England, 

 its correct identification is important. Reputed trees of F. americana growing 

 slowly usually turn out on examination to be F. viridis or some other species. 

 In summer, the leaflets white beneath and distinctly stalked, the rachis terete 

 and practically not grooved, and the glabrous branchlets, will readily distinguish 

 F. americana. The only species which closely agrees with it, F texensis, has, when 

 adult, fewer, usually five (rarely seven) leaflets, which are smaller and quite 

 different in shape, being broadly oval with a rounded or acute apex. (A. H.) 



Distribution 



The white ash is one of the best known and most highly valued trees in New 

 England and Canada ; where it occurs according to Sargent, from Nova Scotia 

 and New Brunswick through Ontario to northern Minnesota, southward to northern 

 Florida, and westward to Kansas, Indian Territory, and eastern Nebraska, and the 

 valley of the Trinity River, Texas ; being less common and smaller west of the 

 Mississippi. It attains in the forest a height of 120 feet with a diameter of 4 feet 

 and upwards, and thrives best in a deep loamy soil near the banks of streams, 

 just as the common ash does in England. When standing alone it assumes a 

 spreading habit with large branches. 



Ridgway measured a sound tree in Wabash County, Illinois, which was 144 

 feet high with a clean stem 83 feet long and 9 feet in girth at the top, and 13 feet 

 at the base, which, according to English measure, would have contained over 500 

 cubic feet; and Dr. C. Schneck measured a tree in the same county 144 feet high 

 with a stem 90 feet long and 1 7^ in girth above the swell at the base ; and this tree, 

 if it carried its girth up, might have contained 1000 feet of timber. 



1 This variety is common in the Gulf States, the fruit being less than \ inch long ; whereas it usually attains I J to 2 

 inches. Sargent, however, states that both large and small fruit may occur on the same individual, and even on the same 

 branch. a Cf. Rehder in Cycl. Amer. Horticulture, 607 (19)- 



