222 Trees with Compound Leaves. [E i, ir 



A tree forty to eighty feet high. Often the trunk 

 rises forty feet without branching. Its tough and elastic 

 timber is of very great value, being widely used in the 

 manufacture of agricultural implements, for oars, and the 

 shafts of carriages, and in cabinet-work. 



I find in the notes of an old copy of White's " Natural 

 History of Selborne " this comment : " The Ash, I think, 

 has been termed by Gilpin the Venus of British trees." 



Gerardes' " Herbal" comments: "The leaves of the 

 Ash are of so great a vertue against serpents, as that 

 the serpents dare not be so bolde as to touch the morning 

 and evening shadowes of the tree, but shunneth them 

 afarre ofT, as Pliny reporteth in his 16 book, 13 chap. 

 He also affirmeth that the serpent being penned in with 

 boughes laide rounde about, will sooner run into the fire, 

 if any be there, than come neere to the boughes of the 

 Ash." 



In Scandinavian mythology the great and sacred tree, 

 Yggdrasil, the greatest and most sacred of all trees, which 

 binds together heaven and earth and hell, is an Ash. Its 

 roots spread over the whole earth. Its branches reach 

 above the heavens. Underneath lies a serpent ; above is 

 an eagle ; a squirrel runs up and down the trunk, trying 



to breed strife between them. 



( 



Fig. III. Red Ash. F. pubescens, Lam. 

 Leaves, COMPOUND (odd-feathered ; leaflets, seven to nine) ; 



EDGE OF . LEAFLETS NEARLY ENTIRE OR SLIGHTLY 

 TOOTHED. 



Outline of leaflet, long oval or egg-shape. Apex, taper- 

 pointed. Base, somewhat pointed. 



