Texas Ash 



807 



ovate to oblong or ovate-orbicular, 5 to 8 

 cm. long, 2.5 lo 5 cm. wide, long-stalked, 

 strongly veined, toothed from the aj)ex 

 nearly to the base, and vary from abruptly 

 pointed at the tip and wedge-shaped at the 

 base to rounded or blunt at both ends ; the 

 upper surface is bright green and smooth, 

 the under side paler and when young often 

 hairy. The dioecious flowers appear with 

 or just before the leaves of the season in 

 April or May in compact clusters. The sa- 

 maras are narrowly oblanceolate, 2 to 3 cm. 

 long, about 5 mm. wide, the wing decur- 

 rent on the seed-bearing part to about 

 the middle, and either blunt, pointed or 

 notched at the apex. 



Fig. 737. Desert Ash. 



17. TEXAS ASH Fraxinus texana (A. Gray) Sargent 

 Fnixinus americana texana A. Gray 



This tree inhabits bluffs and hillsides of central and western Texas. It some- 

 times reaches a height of 16 meters and a trunk diameter of about i meter. The 



bark is thick, gray and rough, 

 the young twigs round, and 

 smooth or verv nearlv so from 

 the first. The leaves have 5, 

 or sometimes 7, long-stalked 

 leaflets, which are ovate to 

 oval in form, or sometimes 

 broader above than below the 

 middle; they are blunt or 

 short -pointed, 5 to 7 cm. 

 long, 3 to 3 cm. wide, nar- 

 rowed or rounded at the base, 

 bluntly-toothed or nearly en- 

 tire-margined, dark green 

 above, pale beneath. The 

 dioecious flowers appear with 

 Fig. 738. Texas Ash. the leaves in early spring, the 



calyx of the pistillate ones being very deeply 4-lobed. The samaras are small, 

 spatulate to oblong-spatulate, 1.5 to 2.5 cm. long, the blunt or notched wing nearly 

 terminal on the plump marginless seed-bearing part, and equahng it in length, or 

 longer. 



