The Mountain Ashes 



late, dark yellow-green, pale beneath. Flowers creamy white, 

 perfect, small, in broad, compound, flat-topped corymbs, after 

 the leaves in May and June. Fruit small, scarlet, berry-like, with 

 thin flesh and bony seeds. Ripe in September and hang on all 

 winter. Preferred habitat, rich, moist soil. Distribution, New- 

 foundland to Manitoba; south along mountains to Tennessee and 

 North Carolina. Uses: Planted for its red berries and fern-like 

 foliage. Fruit used in home remedies. 



The way to see our American mountain ash at its best is to take 

 a leisurely October drive through the wooded uplands of New Eng- 

 land or lower Canada. Along the borders of swamps, or climbing 

 the rocky bluffs, with the wild plums and the straggling beeches, 

 this frail scarlet-berried ash leaps up like a yellow flame, and the 

 broad discs of its fruit gleam among the leaves like red embers in 

 a grate. There is no handsomer leaf at any season than this 

 one, on its red stem, its pointed leaflets dainty and slim as a 

 willow's. 



I have wondered that people prefer to plant in their gardens 

 the European species. But 1 fmd it is not all the deep-seated 

 craving for imported things. The American tree languishes in 

 warm, dry climates and in the protected situations we are apt to 

 choose. 1 1 shows a distinct preference for cold, unsheltered places, 

 exposed to winds, where its growth is stunted. Though its 

 range extends into the Southern States, it always keeps to high 

 altitudes. 



The Elder-leaved Mountain Ash (Sorbus sambucijolia, 

 Rcrm.) is even more daring in its fight with the elements. It 

 climbs higher on the mountains, and ranges from Labrador to 

 Alaska, following the Rocky Mountains to Colorado. In the 

 East, it goes no farther south than Pennsylvania. The same 

 species inhabits Japan and eastern China, 



This species has showier flowers and fruit clusters than 

 S. Americana. In the large area where their ranges overlap, these 

 two can be best distinguished by their leaves. This Western moun- 

 tain ash has darker green foliage, of abruptly pointed leaflets. 

 The fruits have five large, erect calyx points at the blossom end. 

 These points are small on the berries of the other species, and are 

 bent inward until they lie flat. 



All through the summer the graceful, elder-like foliage of the 

 V/estern mountain ash makes it a tropical-looking tree among its 



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