OLEACE^E 843 



in the axils of the numerous conspicuous veins forked near the margins and connected by 

 coarse reticulate veinlets; petiolules slender, |'-|' and on the terminal leaflet up to 1' in 

 length. Flowers dioecious, appearing in March as the leaves begin to unfold, in compact 

 glabrous panicles from the axils of leaves of the previous year, and covered in the bud by 

 ovate rounded orange-colored scales; staminate flower composed of a minute or nearly ob- 

 solete 4-lobed calyx and 2 stamens, with short filaments and linear-oblong light purple 

 apiculate anthers; calyx of the female flower deep cup-shaped, and divided to the base into 

 4 acute lobes; ovary gradually narrowed into a long slender style. Fruit in short compact 

 clusters, spatula te to oblong, surrounded at base by the persistent calyx, |'-1' long and 

 i' I' wide, the w r ing rounded or occasionally emarginate at apex, and terminal on the short 

 terete many-rayed body; very rarely with 3 or 4 wings extending to the base of the fruit. 



A tree, rarely 50 high, with a short trunk occasionally 2-3 in diameter, thick spread- 

 ing often contorted branches, and stout terete branchlets dark green tinged with red and 

 slightly puberulous when they first appear, becoming light yellow-brown or light orange 

 color during the summer, and in their first winter light brown marked by remote oblong 

 pale lenticels and by large elevated lunate leaf-scars displaying a row of conspicuous fibro- 

 vascular bundle-scars, and dark or reddish brown in their second or third season; usually 

 much smaller. Winter-buds: terminal acute, with 3 pairs of scales, those of the first pair 

 broad-ovate, rounded at the apex, dark orange color, pilose toward the base, and rather 

 shorter than the ovate rounded scales of the second pair coated with rufous tomentum and 

 becoming \' long or about one half the length of the linear strap-shaped scales of the inner 

 pair truncate or emarginate at the apex and orange color. Bark of the trunk '-f thick, 

 dark gray and deeply divided by narrow fissures into broad scaly ridges. Wood heavy, 

 hard, strong, light brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood; valued as fuel and occasion- 

 ally used for flooring. 



Distribution. Texas, high dry limestone bluffs and ridges, in the neighborhood of Dal' 

 las, Dallas County, and Fort Worth, Tarrant County, to the valley of the Colorado River 

 near Austin, Travis County, and over the Edw y ards Plateau to Bandera, Kerr, Edwards 

 and Palo Pinto Counties. 



Hardy in the Arnold Arboretum. 



10. Fraxinus biltmoreana Beadl. 



Leaves 10'-12' long, with a stout pubescent or puberulous petiole, and 7-9 oblong-ovate 

 to ovate-lanceolate or oval often falcate entire or obscurely toothed leaflets acuminate at 

 apex, rounded or cuneate and often inequilateral at base, yellow-bronze color and nearly 

 glabrous above, coated beneath, particularly on the midrib and veins, with long white 

 hairs when they unfold, and at maturity 3 '-6' long, 1 j'-2' wide, thick and firm in texture, 

 dark green and slightly lustrous on the upper surface, pale or glaucous and puberulous on 

 the lower surface and villose along the slender yellow midrib, and primary veins arcuate 

 near the slightly thickened and incurved margins; petiolules pubescent, \'-\' or that of the 

 terminal leaflet up to %' in length. Flowers dioecious, appearing with the leaves about the 

 1st of May, in a rather compact pubescent panicle, with scarious caducous bracts and 

 bractlets; staminate flower with a minute cup-shaped very obscurely dentate calyx and 

 nearly sessile oblong acute anthers; calyx of the pistillate flower much larger and deeply 

 lobed; ovary oblong, gradually narrowed into the slender style divided at apex into 2 short 

 stigmatic lobes. Fruit linear-oblong, in elongated glabrous or puberulous clusters, l^'-lf ' 

 long and about |' wide, the wing terminal, only slightly narrowed at the ends, emarginate 

 at apex, and two and a half to three times longer than the short ellipsoid terete many- 

 nerved body. 



A tree, 40-50 high, with a trunk 12'-18' in diameter, stout ascending or spreading 

 branches forming an open symmetrical head, and stout light or dark gray branchlets soft- 

 pubescent usually during two seasons, much roughened during their first winter and often 

 for two or three years by the large elevated mostly obcordate or sometimes orbicular leaf- 

 scars displaying a marginal line of fibro- vascular bundle-scars. Winter-buds: terminal 



