564 FRAXINUS 



F. ANOMALA, Torrey. UTAH ASH. 



A tree 18 to 20 ft. high, with smooth, square, slightly winged, slender, 

 young shoots. Leaves simple (rarely with two or three leaflets), ovate, some- 

 times roundish or obovate, tapered at the base, bluntish or pointed at the apex, 

 inconspicuously toothed ; I to 2^ ins. long, f to if ins. wide ; grey-green, 

 smooth on both surfaces ; stalk | to I in. long. It flowers on the previous 

 year's growths, and the fruits (not seen in this country) are f in. long, obovate 

 or oval. 



Native of Colorado, Utah, and Nevada ; said by Sargent to be not rare. 

 Introduced in 1893 to Kew, where it forms a lax-branched, small tree, quite 

 distinct from every other cultivated ash in the combination of square stems 

 and simple leaves, but only worth growing as a curiosity. 



F. BERLANDIERIANA, be Candolle. 



A tree up to 30 ft. high, with quite smooth, round branchlets. Leaflets 

 usually five, deep lustrous green above, paler beneath ; the terminal one 

 obovate, 2| to 4 ins. long, i| to 2^ ins. wide ; the lateral ones more oval and 

 smaller, all coarsely toothed above the middle, soon quite smooth ; midrib 

 prominent below, the side ribs connected by conspicuous netted veins ; main 

 leaf-stalk grooved. Fruit i to i J ins. long ; often three-winged (Sargent). 



Native of Texas and Mexico ; introduced to Kew under the name of 

 F. coriacea in 1897. (The true F. coriacea, S. Watson^ according to Sargent, 

 has the shoots tomentose when they appear, remaining downy for one or two 

 years.) As seen at Kew, F. Berlandieriana is a pleasing small tree of free 

 growth, and distinct in the deep glossy green, smooth leaves and branchlets ; 

 in these respects it resembles F. lanceolata, but is smaller in all its parts. 



F. BILTMOREANA, Beadle. BlLTMORE ASH. 



As lately as 1898, this ash was distinguished from F. americana and named 

 by Mr Beadle. No doubt it exists in some gardens, looked upon as ordinary 

 white ash. There is one on the hill at Kew crowned by the Temple of yEolus, 

 which is over 80 ft. high and more than 8 ft. in girth. It is close to a true 

 white ash of about the same size, which Mr Elwes regards as the largest in 

 England. The chief distinction of the Biltmore from the white ash resides in 

 its densely downy young shoots, the down persisting for two years ; the white 

 under-surface of the leaflets and their common stalk are similarly downy. On 

 the old tree at Kew the largest leaflets are 6 ins. long by 3 ins. wide, and the 

 entire leaf up to 20 ins. long. The trunk is similar to that of F. americana, 

 but the first year wood is dull grey (not green or brown as in americana), nor 

 does it acquire during the second season the pale, polished surface of the white 

 ash. In other respects it resembles that species, especially its var. juglandi- 

 folia, but the wing of the fruit is not extended down the body so much. In its 

 downy shoots it resembles F. pennsylvanica, but that species has the leaflets 

 green beneath and the main leaf-stalk more distinctly grooved. Elwes figures 

 a handsome tree at Fawley Court, Oxfordshire, 68 ft. high. . 



F. BRACTEATA, Hemsley. 



A deciduous tree of the Ornus group, 40 ft. high ; young shoots smooth, 

 four-angled, bright green. Leaves variable in size ; on young trees 6 to 12 ins. 

 long. Leaflets five to eleven, ovate, wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, 

 tapered at the apex to a bluntish point, very variable in size ; ordinarily I to 

 3 ins. long (but sometimes 5 ins.), about half as wide ; not toothed, deep 



