8oo 



The Ashes 



calyx. The samaras are spatulatc, averaging about 3 cm. long, the blunt or 

 little notched wing decurrent upon the narrowly conic seed-bearing part to its mid- 

 dle or below. 



The wood is similar to that of the Red ash, and is used for similar purposes. 

 The type specimen was collected by Rev, J. M. Bates at Long Pine, Nebraska, 



Aug. 9, 



1897. 



6. BLUE ASH Fraxinus quadrangulata Michaux 



This, the most slender of the North American Ashes, inhabits preferably hill- 

 sides and river valleys and grows naturally from southern Ontario and Minnesota 

 southward to east Tennessee, Alabama, and Arkansas. It reaches a maximum 



height of about 38 meters, thus rivaling 

 the White ash, but its trunk is not more 

 than I meter thick. 



Its gray bark is i to 2 cm. thick, and 

 splits up into large scales. The young 

 twigs are 4-sided, whence the specific 

 name, and at first, Hke the leaf-buds, red- 

 dish velvety, but soon become smooth. 

 All the 7 to II leaflets are stalked, hairy 

 when they first unfold, and smooth, or 

 somewhat hairy along the veins of the 

 under side when older; they are pointed 

 and serrate with low teeth, and yellowish 

 green. The flowers appear before the 

 leaves in the spring, and differ from those 

 of most other species in being perfect, 

 that is, there are stamens and a pistil in 

 each flower; the calyx is minute and not 

 toothed, and the 2 purple stamens are almost without filaments. The samaras 

 are oblong to somewhat wedge-shaped, 2.5 to 4 cm. long, i cm. wide or less, the 

 thin blunt or notched wing decurrent on the margins of the flat striated fruit body 

 to its base, and about twice its length. 



The Blue ash is usually a healthy tree, and well adapted to planting; its wood 

 is light brownish yellow and hard, with a specific gravity of 0.72, and is much 

 used in general construction and in wagon making. 



Fig. 727. Blue Ash. 



7. SOUTHERN WATER ASH Fraxinus pauciflora Nuttall 



Though greatly resembling the Water ash (Fraxinus caroliniana Miller), this 

 wholly southern tree appears to be readily distinguished from that species by the 

 form of its fruit. It grows in swamps and lagoons from southern Georgia to central 



