8io 



The Ashes 



calyx, the pistillate with a larger 4-lobed 

 calyx. Its samaras are larger than 

 those of the White ash, being from 3.5 

 to 5 cm. long, the narrow terminal wing 

 2 to 4 times as long as the short -oblong, 

 plump seed-bearing part and ver}' little 

 decurrent upon it. 



20. AMERICAN FLOWERING 



ASH 



Fraxinus cuspidata Torrey 



This graceful Httle tree, which is, in- 

 deed, often shrubby in habit, is found 

 in rocky soil, especially in canons, from 

 southwestern Texas to Arizona, extend- 

 FiG. 741. Biltmore Ash. j^g into northern Mexico. It attains a 



height of 6 to 8 meters, and a maximum trimk diameter of about 2 dm. 



The slender round twigs and the leaves are smooth ; there are 3, 5 or 7 slender- 

 stalked leaflets, which vary in shape from ovate to narrowly lanceolate, and from 

 entire to serrate; they are dark green on the upper surface, paler and minutely 

 pitted on the under side, 2 to 7 cm. long, 5 to 20 mm. wide, and often long-pointed. 

 The flowers are borne in loose clusters at leaf scars of the previous year, and are 

 perfect, that is, there are both stamens and 

 a pistil in each one; the small calyx is 

 sharply 4-toothed ; there are 4 long narrow 

 white strap-shaped petals about 15 mm. in 

 length, united into a tube at the base which 

 is a httle longer than the calyx; the 2 sta- 

 mens are very short, and almost without 

 filaments. The samaras are broadly ob- 

 long to oblong-obovate, about 2 cm. long, 

 6 to 8 mm. wide, the very flat seed-body 

 about as long as the thin rounded or 

 notched wing, which is decurrent on its 

 edges nearly to the base. 



On account of the beauty of its fra- 

 grant flowers and of its foUage this tree is 

 planted for ornament in Mexico. 



The similar Fraxinus macro petala, a 

 shrub recently described by Miss Alice Eastwood, known only in the Grand Canon 

 of the Colorado River, differs in its Mnear-oblong samaras, the wing decurrent on 

 the edges of the seed-bearing part about to the middle. 



Fig. 742. American Flowering Ash. 



