FRAXINUS 573 



are stalked, the stalks grooved and downy, as is also the common stalk. Male 

 and female flowers occur on separate trees, and are produced on the old wood 

 just below the new shoot. Fruit I to 2 ins. long. 



Native of Eastern N. America; introduced in 1783, often known under the 

 name " F. pubescens " given to it by Lamarck in 1786, a year later than the 

 accepted name. As common in gardens as F. americana, the red ash is not 

 so striking and large a tree, although it grows quickly when young. From 

 that species it is of course easily distinguished by its downy shoots and green 

 under-side of the leaves. F. pennsylvanica exists in several forms in cultiva- 

 tion, some of which it is not easy to differentiate from F. lanceolata. 

 F. GLABRA, Koehne, is an instance, regarded as a hybrid between the two. 



Var. AUCUB^EFOLIA, Rehder. Leaflets mottled with yellow. This variety 

 in some of its characters is intermediate between pennsylvanica and lanceolata ; 

 the leaves are far from being- as downy as the former, but the shoots are 

 quite downy. A handsome variegated tree. 



F. POTAMOPHILA, Herder. 



A small tree up to 30 or 35 ft. high, with green shoots ; free from down in 

 all its parts. Leaves 4 to 12 ins. long ; leaflets stalked, usually nine or eleven, 

 sometimes seven or thirteen ; I to 3 ins. long, f to i^ ins. broad ; tapered at the 

 base, triangular toothed, pointed, dull green. Main leaf-stalks whitish beneath, 

 with a broad, shallow groove above ; stalks of the leaflets to \ in. long, 

 except the terminal one, which is f to I in. long. Flowers and fruit not seen. 



Native of Turkestan and other parts of W. Asia ; introduced to Kew by way 

 of St Petersburg Botanic Garden in 1891. It is an elegant small tree, very 

 rare in cultivation, but quite distinct among ashes with the same number of 

 leaflets, in their being conspicuously stalked, and, together with the young 

 shoot, quite smooth. , 



F. QUADRANGULATA, Michaux. BLUE ASH. 



A tree 60 to 70, occasionally over 100 ft. high ; branchlets square and 

 conspicuously four-winged, not downy ; bark of the trunk covered with loose 

 plates. Leaves 7 to 14 ins. long, with five to eleven leaflets, which are ovate 

 to lanceolate, 3 tol 5 ins. long, i to 2 ins. wide ; rounded or broadly wedge- 

 shaped and unequal at the base, tapering at the apex to a long, slender 

 point, sharply toothed ; yellowish green and smooth above, paler and downy 

 beneath, especially about the midrib and veins. Common stalk minutely 

 downy, and grooved on the upper side ; stalks of leaflets J to J in. long. 

 Flowers in short panicles from the previous year's wood ; fruit 1-4- ins. long, 

 1% in. wide, oblong, with a notch at the apex. 



Native of the south-eastern and Central United States ; introduced in 

 1823. It produces a valuable timber in the United States, but does not seem 

 to have ever attained any great size in this country, although small trees 

 at Kew are healthy and handsome. It is readily distinguished from all 

 ashes with the same number of leaflets by its square, winged branchlets, except 

 F. bracteata, and that has untoothed leaflets, and belongs to the Ornus group. 



F. SP.ETIIIAI.A, Lingelsheim. SPATH'S ASH. 



(F. serratifolia, Hort. ; F. Sieboldiana, Dippel, not Blume.~) 



A small or medium-sized tree of vigorous growth ; young shoots shining, 

 grey, stout, smooth. Leaves up to i^ ft. long, with seven or nine (sometimes 

 five) leaflets, which are oblong or narrowly obovate, the largest 8 to 9 ins. 



