OREGON ASH 355 



Oregon Ash. This is the only Ash of importance in the 

 Pacific Coast region. Its botanical designation is Fraxinus 

 oregona. It may be found from the shores of Puget Sound 

 south to San Francisco and along the foothills of the Si- 

 erra. In most favored localities forest trees have long, clean 

 stems, and narrow, short crowns of small branches, and are 

 from sixty to seventy-five feet in height, and from sixteen 

 to thirty inches in diameter, sometimes larger. 



The wood is substantially like the White Ash of the East- 

 ern States. The heartwood is a dull yellowish brown, with 

 whitish sapwood. In forest-grown trees it is moderately 

 brittle and fine-grained, but in open-grown trees it is elastic 

 and coarse-grained, particularly in the sapwood of young 

 trees. The wood is not so heavy as that of our Eastern 

 Ashes, but for general usefulness it compares very favor- 

 ably with them, and in the main will serve for the same 

 economic purposes. 



It is a good seeder, but the staminate and pistillate 

 flowers are borne on separate trees, and hence, in gathering 

 seed, care should be taken to see that they are fertile. Natu- 

 ral reproduction is fairly good, if on suitable soil, which is 

 that of alluvial bottoms and flats, and in this it main- 

 tains the character of its eastern relative the White Ash. 

 Whether it has a largely developed tap-root, as most Ashes 

 have, or, if so, whether it can be deprived of it without 

 serious consequences, as in the case of the White Ash, the 

 author does not know. If it possesses no tap-root or if 

 it has a tap-root that can be removed without serious 

 results, it can, no doubt, be successfully grown in the nurs- 

 ery and transplanted into the forest ; otherwise planting 

 seeds must be resorted to. It is a fairly prolific seeder, 

 with a high percentage of fertility. It makes a rapid height 

 growth in early life. Forest-grown trees from sixteen to 

 twenty-five inches in diameter are from ninety-five to one 

 hundred and fifty-five years old. As age creeps on, they 

 grow more slowly. It certainly is worthy of an attempt at 

 cultivation as a forest tree. 



