142 



TREES GROWING IN MOIST SOIL. 



BILTHORE ASH. {Plate LXIX.) 

 Fraxtnus Biltmoreana. 



TIME OF BLOOM 

 April-June. 



Upper bark: light bluish grey. Twigs: stout; velvety. Buds: dark 

 brown. Leaves: two to three inches long; compound; opposite; with dark, 

 pubescent petioles; with from seven to nine oval, ovate or oblong-lanceolate, 

 leaflets pointed at the apex and pointed or rounded at the base; entire or 

 remotely dentate; soft light green and glabrous above, lighter and velvety 

 below. Samaras: large, growing three to five inches long in dense panicles; 

 the wing many nerved and slightly lobed at the apex. Seeds : elliptical. 



Among the ashes there is hardly one more graceful or with 



foliage of a more sunny, ex- 

 quisite green than that of the 

 Biltmore ash. It is light and 

 restless, and after it has faded 

 and fallen the tree looks as 

 though it missed it sadly ; but the 

 seed pods which have then turned 

 to a dull tan colour still cling to 

 the tree and for a long time 

 hang in great bunches upon its 

 boughs as though to cheer it for 

 its loss. 



The tree received its name 

 from Mr. Beadle who so christ- 

 ened it because it is the common 

 species on the Biltmore estate. 

 It there grows abundantly along the French-Broad and 

 Swanona Rivers. In general appearance the tree suggests the 

 white ash, Fraxtnus Americana, more than any other, although 

 it may be distinguished from it by the pubescence of its twigs 

 and petioles. Occasionally it grows to the height of a hundred 

 feet, but when it occurs in drier soil and among the mountains 

 it is generally small. 



Fraxinus Biltmoreana. 



