Tourney's Ash 



803 



It has a gray, fissured bark, 4 cm. thick or less, and round twigs, which are 

 smooth from the first, but the bud-scales are finely hairy. The leaves are cither 

 quite smooth or a httle rusty-hairy along the veins on the under side; they have 

 either 3 or 5 stalked, rather thick leaflets, which are lanceolate to oblong, or the end 

 one obovate, pointed, wedge-shaped at the base, the upper surface dark green and 

 shining, the lower surface bright green. The flowers arc dioecious, the staminatc 

 ones with a very small calyx, the pistillate calyx much larger and sharply toothed. 

 The samaras are spatulate-oblong, 3 to 4 cm. long, 5 to 7 mm. wide, the firm blunt 

 or rather sharp-pointed wing about twice as long as the narrow somewhat flat- 

 tened seed-bearing part, dccurrent on its edges to much below the middle. 



The wood is Hght brown with a specific gravity of 0.58. It is said to be planted 

 as a street tree in many parts of Mexico. 



II. TOUMEY'S ASH Fraxinus Toumeyi Britton, new species 



Toumey's ash inhabits canons and river valleys from western Texas to New 

 Mexico and southern California, extending into Sonora and Chihuahua. It is 

 seldom more than 12 meters high and the trunk reaches a maximum thickness of 

 about 2 dm. 



The bark is gray and rough. The round young twigs are either velvety, slightly 

 hairy or quite smooth, and the leaves also vary 

 from smooth to velvety on the under side. 

 The usually 5 or 7 leaflets are thick, narrowly 

 lanceolate, mostly long-pointed, toothed or en- 

 tire-margined, yellow-green above, somewhat 

 paler beneath, and stalked. The dioecious 

 flowers appear with the leaves, the staminate 

 ones having a minute calyx, the pistillate a 

 rather large and 4-toothed calyx. The samaras 

 are small, 2 to 3 cm. long, spatulate to Hnear- 

 spatulate, the blunt or notched wing about as 

 long as the round and striate seed-bearing part 

 and decurrent on its sides only to above the 

 middle. 



The wood is Hght brown, rather weak, with 

 a specific gravity of 0.68; it is used for tool- 

 handles and in wagon-making. The tree is much planted in the southwest for 

 shade and ornament. It is described and illustrated by Professor Sargent (Silva 

 N. A. 6: 41) as Fraxinus velutina Torrey, but that is a different species to which 

 the name Fraxinus pistacicBJolia Torrey was later applied, and this name is also 

 sometimes erroneously given to Toumey's ash. The type specimens were collected 

 by Professor J. W. Toumey of the Yale Forest School, at Tucson, Arizona, INIarch 

 and October, 1895. 



Fig. 732. Toumey's Ash. 



