28 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



231. FRAXINUS DIPETALA, HOOK. & ARN. 



FRINGE-FLOWER ASH. 



Ger., Fransenbluhende Esclie; Fr., JFrene a fleurs de f range; Sp., 

 Fresno deflores defranja. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS : Leaves 2-6 in. long and with 3-9 rather thick oval or 

 oblong leaflets, which are -'^ in. long, rounded or acute at apex, wedge-shaped 

 at base, serrate above the middle, glabrous, dark green above, paler beneath and 

 varying from nearly sessile to long petiolulate ; branchlets terete or slightly 

 4-angled, dark green at first but finally reddish brown marked with pale lenticels. 

 Flowers in clusters of narrow panicles, 2-3 in. long, mostly from the axils of the 

 leaves of the previous year, with puberulous pedicels from to i in. in length ; 

 calyx puberulous outside, about T V in. long, 4-parted or almost entire ; petals 2, 

 creamy white, ovate with short claw, about | in. long, thin ; stamens about as 

 long as the petals, with slender filaments and ample linear anthers ; pistil with 

 ovate ovary and slightly lobed style. Fruit narrow spatulate-oblong, about 1 in. 

 in length, the wing rounded and mostly retuse at apex and about as long as the 

 flat seed bearing portion. 



Var. brachyptera, Gray, is the name given to a form found in the vicinity of 

 Borax Lake, Cal., having obovate keys only i-f in. long, the terminal part of the 

 wing only half the length of the body. 



Var. trifoliata, Torr., is a form found near the southern boundary of California, 

 having 1-3 small coriaceous obscurely serrate leaflets, one inch or less in length 

 and rather small fruit. 



The Fringe -flower Ash is a small tree rarely surpassing a height of 

 25 or 30 ft. (9 m.) or 10-12 in. (0.30 m.) in thickness of trunk, which 

 is vested in a grayish-brown bark checking with age into shallow 

 ridges and exfoliating in irregular friable elongated scales. Only in 

 favored localities, however, does it become a tree, it being generally a 

 shrub with many stems from a single base. 



HABITAT. The coast region and western foot hills of the Sierra 

 Nevada mountains of California and southward into lower California. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood rather hard, strong, heavy, coarse- 

 grained with small medullary rays and annual layers distincly marked 

 by large open ducts. It is of a yellowish-brown color with thick 

 lighter sap wood. We believe the specific gravity, etc., of this wood 

 have not been determined. 



USES. The representatives of this species only rarely attaining the 

 dimensions of trees, are of little economic importance. 



ORDER PL AT AN ACE .S3 : PLANE-TREE FAMILY. 



Leaves simple, alternate, palmately-veined and lobed. with sheathing scarious 

 stipules. Flowers monoecious, destitute of both calyx and corolla, in separate and 

 globular heads. Sterile flowers numerous ; stamens intermixed with small, club- 

 shaped scales; filaments very short; anthers 2-celled, linear. Fertile flowers : 

 pistils intermixed with little scales ; ovaries inversely pyramidal ; style simple, 

 awl-shaped, stigmatic on one side. Fruit small, club-shaped, coriaceous nutlets, 

 with bristly tawny down at base, arranged in globose heads and containing a 

 single, pendulous/albuminous seed. 



Represented by trees. 



